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�On St. Augustine
ugustine’s life and works reflect intellectual rigor, curiosity,
STJOHN’S
and a desire to see beyond the surface of things to find real
understanding. Driven by a restlessness that at times turned
College
to self-loathing, he engaged in a relentless quest with many a
SANTA
wrong turn and dead end. He was determined to distinguish
“the charm of words from the truth of things,” as he writes in the
The College (usps 018-750)
Augustine was born
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North Africa
in 354. in
Confessions.
thought
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is published quarterly by
As a schoolboy he hated
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Known office of publication:
rhetoric. He went to Rome and then Milan to teach rhetoric, and did well in his
Communications Office
St. John’s College
public life, seeking out applause and recognition for his talents. He saw rhetoric as a
Box a8oo
way to “conquer” others, but ultimately, his success as a great orator gave him no
Annapolis, MD 21404-2800
real satisfaction.
Periodicals postage paid
His search for wisdom led him to the Manichaean religion, which ultimately
at Annapolis, MD
disappointed him with empty answers to his questions. “Nearly nine years passed in
postmaster: Send address
which I wallowed in the mud of that deep pit and in the darkness of falsehood, striving
changes to The College
often to rise, but being all the more heavily dashed down,” he writes in Book Three.
Magazine, Communications
His restlessness and dissatisfaction led him to the works of Plato and Plotinus.
Office, St. John’s College,
Box
2800, Annapolis, MD
He found a harmony between Christian belief and neoplatonism that paved the way
21404-2800.
for his eventual conversion. In 387, at the age of 33, and on Holy Saturday, Augustine
Rosemary Harty, editor
was baptized. His mother, St. Monica, never gave up on him.
Patricia Dempsey,
Soon afterward he returned to Tagaste, where he lived a monastic life. In 391, while
managing editor
he was visiting in Hippo, he became a priest. For the rest of his life he remained in
John Hartnett (SF83),
Santa Fe editor
Hippo, where he became auxiliary bishop in 395 and bishop soon after. He died in
Jennifer Behrens, art director
430, as the Vandals lay siege to Hippo, and he spent his last days reading in his
library.
Annapolis
410-626-2539
His Confessions (written in his 40s) is considered a classic of Christian autobiogra
phy, as well as a compelling account of one man’s intellectual and spiritual journey.
Santa Fe
He spent 13 years writing The City of God, which he finished in 426.
505-984-6104
Sophomores at St. John’s read from the Hebrew scriptures and from classical
Contributors
Roman poetry and history before moving on to Augustine, Aquinas, and Anselm.
Jason Bielagus (SF98)
In the reading list today, Aristotle’s On the Soul serves as a bridge between the great
Barbara Goyette (A73)
shifts of thought occurring between Roman and medieval times. “Augustine was a
Andra Maguran
man caught between two worlds: that of paganism and Christianity, of being a
Jo Ann Mattson (A87)
believer and a nonbeliever,” says Brother Robert Smith, Annapolis tutor. “In the
Erica Naone (A05)
Libby Vega (SF06)
Confessions, he works that all out, and all the moral problems that are connected with
Roseanna White (A05)
that. Besides that, he’s a very good writer.”
A
ANNAPOLIS •
FE
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�{Contents}
PAGE
IO
DEPARTMENTS
St. Augustine
a
FROM THE BELL TOWERS
How should we think about the concept
of sin? Does the average person really
have the capacity for evil? Augustine
scholar Kim Paffenroth (A88) offers
perspective on the Confessions.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Faculty study groups
Making Johnnies out of GIs
A new vice president in Santa Fe
Opportunity Initiative
Enterprising Greek scholars
A garden grows in Annapolis
New tutors
9
LETTERS
PAGE
l8
Commencement 2005
16 ALUMNI VOICES
In Annapolis, one speaker imagines
Callicles as the perfect commencement
speaker; in Santa Fe, another tells
graduates that great riches lie beyond
the land of the Phaiacians.
PAGE
A Johnnie way of life-only different.
a8 STUDENT VOICES
Through photography, Donald Stone
(A06) helps teens find their own paths.
30 BIBLIOFILE
2121
A Long
A new two-volume history by Joseph
Baratta (A69) explores the world
federalism movement.
Time Coming
In her years away from St. John’s, Peggy
O’Shea (SF87) sold BMWs. Nick Colten
(A97) worked as a baker. Ultimately,
their paths brought them full circle.
PAGE
3a ALUMNI NOTES
PROFILES
32 Antiques Roadshow’s Peter Fairbanks
(A73) knows the real McCoy.
36 An island of her own: Sarah Mara (A61)
and life on Lone Pine.
38 Kira Zielinski (SF95) takes to the skies.
42 Chris P. Nelson (SF99)-blogging his way
to fame and fortune.
2Zj.
Homecoming
A birthday party for Eastern Classics,
Shakespeare in action, and a new
president in Santa Fe make for a lively
Homecoming.
46 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS
48 ST. John’s forever
PAGE a4
ON THE COVER
Augustine ofHippo
Illustration by DavidJohnson
�2.
{From
the
Bell Towers}
Faculty Study Groups
Sustaining the Life ofthe Mind
Molly Bloom’s soliloquy at the end of James Joyce’s Ulysses is
one of the most famous passages of modern literature, with the
final few lines punctuated by the repetition of the word “yes”:
. Iput my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so
he couldfeel my breasts allperfume yes and his heart was going
like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes. ”
As he prepared for a faculty study group meeting on the novel
last July, Santa Fe tutor David Carl planned to play a recording of
an actress reading part of the soliloquy. “My opening question
will be, ‘what is Molly saying yes to?’” Carl explained. “The book
is about the Blooms’ marital problems, her infidelity, the death
of their child, and there are a lot of things that have been said no
to. But she’s affirming something at the end of book, and I’d like
to hear thoughts from the group.”
Carl was actually a bit surprised to find him
self leading an eight-week faculty study group
on Ulysses. He had proposed War and Peace,
but the Instruction Committee had settled on
Joyce, and he gamely accepted. “It’s a very
difficult book,” he says of Ulysses. “But it’s
been fun, because talking about it out loud
helps sort out the meaning.”
Faculty study groups have been a part of
sustaining the intellectual life of St. John’s
tutors since the New Program was established
in 1937. Groups of 4-12 tutors meet under a
variety of circumstances, reading and working
through a variety of texts, both Program and
non-Program. This kind of study is important
to tutors: it enables them to think in-depth
about a certain subject or
book, when their normal
teaching schedule calls
them to cover material
more quickly; it helps them
consider proposed changes to
the Program; and it helps
them prepare to teach in
areas of the curriculum
where they may not have
much experience.
This past summer, about 25
faculty members in Santa Fe
took part in five funded study
groups. In Annapolis, 43 fac
ulty members took part in six
funded groups. (On both campuses, several tutors took part in
more than one group.) Because it is such an essential part of
keeping St. John’s a true community of learners, faculty development-as it is often called in the academic world-is among the
college’s most important strategic goals. To allow more tutors
to take part, the college has been seeking-and finding, from
entities such as the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation,
the A.W. Mellon Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute-outside funding for study groups.
A grant supported the Ulysses study group, and Carl was
gratified to be paid for the time and effort he put into leading the
group. “In the Nichomacean Ethics, we read that a life of study
and contemplation is the happiest life a human being can lead,”
he says. “Tutors really believe that, and if
that’s what you believe, surely someone
doesn’t have to offer you money. On the other
hand, leading a group is time consuming, and
it turns out the compensation is pretty gener
ous. That helped because of all the things that
turn out not to be a part of the life of the mind,
but still matter-like rent and insurance.”
Spontaneous and informal study groups
spring up frequently at St. John’s, says
Santa Fe Dean David Levine (A67). However,
on a practical level, funded study groups
allow tutors to be released from their teaching
schedule. “Now that we have the financial
support, it means that tutors can concentrate
on a study group in ways they haven’t been
able to before,” he says. “We’re working
Supportingfaculty
development
is one ofthe
colleges most
important
strategic goals.
Thursday afternoon with
Joyce: Santa Fe faculty
MEMBERS (l. to R. ) BoB
Richardson, David Carl,
AND Peter Pesic took on
Ulysses in a summer study
GROUP.
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
J
�{From
the
Bell Towers}
3
toward giving tutors more release time to pursue their
his most satisfying experiences has been holding the NEH Chair,
own inquiry.”
which gave him a year off from teaching to study Plato’s Philebus,
Study groups solidify the faculty community and feed tutors
then lead a faculty study group and deliver a lecture on thumos in
with energy and ideas. “At other colleges, faculty study groups
The Republic.
are the icing on the cake, whereas here, they’re a necessity-they
Providing compensation for study groups ensures more oppor
are part of the cake,” says Levine. Because tutors teach across
tunities for all tutors, Dink says. “It levels the playing field to
the curriculum, the college asks “everyone to extend themselves
allow anyone-regardless of financial need-to engage in the study
beyond their area of comfort.”
group,” he says. “Tutors will always want to keep learning. Their
Last summer, Ingo Farin, a Santa Fe tutor since 2002, took part
appetites are not exhausted by the Program.”
in a srx-week mathematics study group led by John Cornell and a
Tutor Erik Sagengwas asked to lead a faculty study group on
two-day session on Einstein’s 1905 paper on Brownian motion,
probability and statistics, funded by the Howard Hughes Medical
led by Peter Pesic. They were both exciting, says Farin, whose
Institute. He spent a year planning, originally expecting to focus
doctoral work was in philosophy. “It’s good to offer study groups
on techniques of statistical analysis, but the study group eventu
for those who are not experts, so they can catch up with what
ally took a more philosophical look at the topic. “I had no idea
more experienced tutors say about the matter,” he says. “But the
that there were so many different and actively debated systems of
primary focus of study groups should be the intellectual focus of
foundations for probability and statistics,” he says. “I found that
tutors. That means that [the groups] go outside the canon of
really interesting and exciting.”
things we teach here. If we don’t do that, there’s a danger we
The group had three two-hour meetings each week for eight
could become experts in the Program.”
weeks. Four members of the group had fund
For that reason, he was pleased to lead a
ing, but one took part without any compensa
study group on “ Todesfuge” (“Death Fugue”)
tion. They read works by Richard von Mises,
by Paul Celan, a Romanian-born poet whose
Karl Popper, F.P. Ramsey, Bruno de Finetti,
parents were killed in the Holocaust and
and John Maynard Keynes. “This particular
who escaped death by working in a Nazi
topic was especially valuable, because it can
labor camp.
bear on how we learn and how we change our
Claudia Honeywell has been on the faculty
opinions in the face of evidence,” Sageng says.
for 12 years and has yet to teach senior labora
WTiile some study groups meet for just one
tory. After completing a study group on the
summer, one Annapolis group has been meet
Michael Dink, Annapolis dean
first half of senior lab, led by Howard Fisher,
ing for 21 years, two hours each week, for eight
she feels that she can approach Faraday,
weeks, to read works in phenomenology.
Millikan, and Rutherford with
They’ve spent years on each
more ease. It was enjoyable to
work, just completing a fiveconduct the experiments with
year exploration of Hans-Georg
her colleagues and talk about
Gadamer’s Truth and Method
the results. “This has really
last summer. The works they
opened up something for me.
Or, don’t. A/oZ>y-7)ZcA:-considered by some to be the great
read may not be on the Pro
When I go into laboratory.
American novel-hasn’t been on the seminar reading list in
gram, but they help us under
I’ll have more confidence,
Annapolis since 1974. It hung on in Santa Fe several years
stand the Program, says tutor
and I’ll feel I can engage the
longer before vanishing. Relegated to preceptorials, the
Jon Lenkowsi, who also took
students,” she says, adding
novel has been replaced in seminar by Benito Cereno.
part in a Donne study group.
with a laugh, “I’m still afraid
Here’s your chance, readers of The College. What should be
“What we do in our classes can
to teach music.”
on the official Reading List of St. John’s that is not there now?
be traced back to some kind of
Annapolis Dean Michael
Joyce’s Ulysses, instead of The Dead? Proust’s Remembrance
phenomenology. We’re always
Dink (A75) still remembers the
of Things Pastl Should we bring back Gibbon’s The Decline
reflecting on our own experi
and Fall ofthe Roman Empire I
study group he participated in
ences and on our own lives,”
Make your case in a few hundred words or less why a par
during his first year as a tutor
he says.
ticular work should be added to the Reading List. Note that
in Annapolis in 1984. “Curtis
Lenkowski is one of the
The College has no sway with the Instruction Committee,
Wilson led a group on the idea
original members of the group,
which decides such things. We invite your suggestions in the
of universal gravitation in
which also comprised John
interest of sparking lively conversation.
Newton’s thought. It made a
White (A65), Sam Kutler
Those whose suggestions end up printed in the Winter
big impression on me.”
(A54), and Debbie Renaut
2006 issue will be rewarded with either an Albert Einstein
Over the years, he’s partici
{A68). The composition of
or Jane Austen action figure (retail value: $8.95). Please
pated in many groups, some
the group has changed from
mail submissions to: Editor, The College, P.O. Box 2800,
with funding, most without.
year to year. “The excitement
Annapolis, MD 2T404-2800. The current reading lists for
Last year, he formed a twocomes in having the leisure
the Annapolis and Santa Fe campuses can be found on
person study group with tutor
to do this with like-minded
the college Web site: www.stjohnscollege.edu; click on
Nathan Dugan. The two met
people.”
Academic Program.
once a week to translate
—Rosemary Harty
Genesis from Hebrew. One of
''Tutors will
always want
to keep
learning.
“Call Me Ishmael”
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
�4
{From
the
Bell Towers}
Making Johnnies Out of GIs
At St. John’s new undergradu
ates forge bonds in shared
classes, meals, intramural
sports, and parties. At the
Graduate Institute in Annapolis,
students’ ages range from 22 to
72, they are in different life
stages and careers, and they
can live an hour or more from
campus. But none of that has
stopped Annapolis GI Director
Joan Silver (A76) from launch
ing new initiatives to make
graduate students feel that
they’re part of a wider
community.
“Creating more community
for the GI students both within
the GI itself and within the
college as a whole remains a
challenge,” says Silver, now in
her second year as director.
Energetic, creative, and familiar
with what it’s like to be an older
student in a young population.
Silver has been determined to
make GIs feel like full-fledged
Johnnies. When she came to
St. John’s as a student. Silver
already had a bachelor’s degree.
She ended up becoming a parttime tutor while she finished the
Program, eventually earning a
master of arts from the college.
After earning a doctorate in the
ology, she became a full-time
tutor in Santa Fe in 1989 and
returned to Annapolis in 1996.
There are obstacles to build
ing a community for a diverse
group of students, many of
whom are juggling their studies
with full-time jobs and family
obligations. Silver acknowl
edges. Some attend part time,
and not all can linger late for
regular after-seminar gather
ings on Monday nights. This fall
Silver began inviting each of
the 93 Annapolis GI students to
join her and other students for
lunch or dinner.
Recently, President Chris
Nelson began hosting recep
Broadening the Search
Crystal Watkins grew up in
Annapolis and attended The
Key School, founded by
St. John’s tutors. However,
except for attending an occa
sional event on the campus,
she didn’t know much about
the college. When it came time
to apply to colleges, St. John’s
was not on her list. “It was
totally based on a stereotype,”
she says. “I just didn’t think I’d
fit in.”
Since July, it has been
Watkins’ job to dispel stereo
types about St. John’s. As part
of the college’s Opportunity
Initiative, Watkins joined the
college as admissions counselor
for diversity, sharing regular
admissions duties along with
taking on special initiatives to
introduce St. John’s to minority
students. She will attend col
lege fairs, visit high schools,
and establish relationships with
community groups.
for
In Santa Fe, the college has a
similar initiative, with a special
emphasis on introducing the
college to Hispanic and NativeAmerican students. The goal for
both campuses is to broaden the
college’s recruitment efforts to
ensure that qualified high
tions for graduate stu
dents. Silver is helping
several GIs who are
reviving the Graduate
Council as a way to
foster academic and
social events, while
connecting with the
undergraduate Student
Committee on Instruc
tion. “As a result, we
now have undergradu
ates participating in
our orientation
seminars on the Meno
at the beginning of each
semester,” she says.
Krishnan Venkatesh, director
of the GI in Santa Fe, says the
campus has done much to make
graduate students feel like part
of the community. In Santa Fe,
GIs are invited to attend under
graduate preceptorials, bring
ing the two populations
together in the classroom. This
year, the GI has 71 students in
Joan Silver hopes to
STRENGTHEN THE GI COMMUNITY.
the liberal arts program and 31
in Eastern Classics.
“The GIs usually live and
work about 15 minutes from
campus, so they are able to be
here during the day for some
thing as informal as lunch with
fellow students and extracurric
ular activities,” he says.
— Patricia Dempsey
Prospectives
school students from a wide
variety of ethnic, racial, and
economic backgrounds have a
chance to hear about St. John’s.
Watkins majored in English
and African-American studies
at the University of Virginia,
where she earned a Bachelor
of Arts. She became
interested in issues of
access to higher education
and began volunteering
in the undergraduate
admissions office and
as a peer adviser in
UVA’s Office of African
American Affairs. She
later earned a master’s
degree in Education,
Policy, and Leadership
from the University of
Maryland.
Crystal Watkins hopes to
DISPEL STEREOTYPES ABOUT
St. John’s.
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
Watkins recognizes that
many things keep a student
from applying to the college,
among them, the availability of
merit and athletic scholarships
at other colleges, the small
size of St. John’s, and more
than any other factor, the
college’s academic program.
It’s hard to find students who
are right for St. John’s, and
Watkins’ work is just one
part of a highly developed
admissions strategy geared to
identifying those students.
Watkins’ role is to make sure
that unspoken fears about
“not fitting in” do not deter
prospectives. “I think it’s a
valid concern that if you visit a
college, and you don’t see many
minority students, you wonder,
‘well, why aren’t they here?’
My job is to show that although
St. John’s isn’t right for every
student, we are a welcoming
community.
�{From the Bell Towers}
5
Linking a College with a Community
Jim Oslerholt Leads Development Efforts in Santa Fe
James W. Osterholt heard his calling
in 1971, when he was attending Union
Theological Seminary in New York
City on a Rockefeller Fellowship.
Although he soon decided that the
ministry wasn’t for him, Osterholt
discovered a new vocation while
working in Union’s development
office. “I decided then that I wanted a
job where I could be a part of the sub
stance of the academic environment
but also a part of the world outside
the university-to be a bridge between
the institution and the society it
serves,” he says.
In a similar way, fate played a hand
in bringing Osterholt to St. John’s
College. Santa Fe President Michael
Peters and Osterholt had a mutual
friend at Pepperdine University.
When the friend heard that Peters had
accepted the job as president and that
the vice president’s position was
open, the friend thought Osterholt
and Peters would work well together
and “played matchmaker,” explains
Osterholt. In July, Peters welcomed
Osterholt to Santa Fe as the college’s
vice president of advancement, successfully concluding a national
search for a key position on the college’s management team.
The Santa Fe campus and the college are fortunate to have
someone with Osterholt’s background and experience, says
Peters. “He will be a strong and effective partner, not only for
advancement, but also in the broader management of the campus
and the college,” he says.
Osterholt finds his new position challenging and rewarding.
In addition to directing plans for the president’s inauguration in
October, Osterholt’s priorities include planning for the college’s
upcoming capital campaign, scheduled to launch in spring aoo6.
He has begun working to strengthen relationships between the
college, the community of Santa Fe, and St. John’s alumni. He also
intends to increase the breadth and depth of the college’s friends
and supporters. How will he do it? “By working my tail off,” he
says. “But I’m fortunate to have a marvelous group of faculty,
colleagues, and staff to support these efforts.”
Osterholt is a self-described collaborator who most enjoys being
part of a successful team of professionals. His ai-year tenure at
UCLA culminated in serving as the associate vice chancellor of
development. There Osterholt planned a $i billion campaign.
Most recently Osterholt worked as vice president of external
relations at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, where
he managed an array of external programs including development,
trustee relations, public information, government relations, and
marketing and communications. At the Milken Institute, he
served as vice president for development. He also was executive
Advancement is all about building
RELATIONSHIPS, SAYS JaMES OstERHOLT,
Santa Fe’s new VP.
director of development at the RAND
Corporation, and director of develop
ment and alumni affairs, director of
annual giving, and assistant director
of development at Union Theological
Seminary.
Osterholt attended Stanford University,
where he earned a bachelor’s degree in
American history in 1970. After his year
as a Rockefeller Fellow at Union, Oster
holt went on to earn a master’s degree
from Columbia University in 1974.
His greatest pleasure so far has been
learning to convey the essence of the
Program to existing and potential friends
of the college. Explaining what St. John’s
is all about gives more people the oppor
tunity to become involved in the life of
the college.
“There are a number of special attrac
tions that contribute to the quality of life
at St. John’s in Santa Fe, such as really
getting to know members of a smaller
community. It’s all about building relationships,” he says. “When
you have a real relationship, you are sincerely helping friends of
the college express something they are already interested in
accomplishing. In a way we are working on the same objective
furthering St. John’s.”
Osterholt’s wife of 30 years, Debbie, has been a part of every
institution her husband has served. She works as an executive
recruiter for development officers, but has never found her
husband a job. “She has, however, steered me away from a few,”
he says.
Throughout his many years in advancement, Osterholt has
acquired a collection of interesting anecdotes. One involved a gift
request that occurred over lunch with a prospective donor in a uni
versity dining hall. Osterholt recalls, “There had been a lot of
prior discussion about how large a request we should make. When
the conversation finally turned to the point where he was asked for
his gift, the gentleman passed out, literally. I guess he was asked
for too much.”
In fund raising, however, no gift is ever too small or insignificant,
and even the most modest gifts are appreciated. Osterholt saw this
firsthand when his daughter’s school had a financial emergency and
he was drafted to do the fund raising. “One of the smallest gifts in
that drive was a gift of $5, paid at $i per month for five months,”
he recalls. “It was from my daughter, who was in first grade.”
The Osterholts’ daughter, Katie, has since graduated from the
University of Arizona and is studying to become a paralegal.
{The College. St John’s College • Fall 2005 }
—Andra Maguran
�6
{Bell Towers}
Paradigm Shift
Initially, self-interest inspired
Erikk Geannikis (Ao6) to try to
assemble a Greek paradigm
handbook designed to “take the
heartache out of Ancient
Greek.” During his junior year,
he had planned to apply to
graduate school for study in the
classics and was advised that
completing an independent
project-such as compiling a
didactic tool for Greek-would
look good on grad school
applications.
Although he’s now more
interested in neuroscience,
Geannikis decided to
pursue the project anyway.
He recruited Andrew
Romiti and Paul Wilfordpartners in his Greek study
group and both juniors
planning to study the
classics-to help.
Working independently
in three different cities and
meeting in an Internet chat
room to compare notes and
exchange their sections,
they completed the project
over the summer and sent it
out for review by the faculty
and Dean Michael Dink.
Romiti took care of the
copying and binding at
Kinkos. By the time the fall
semester started, loo
copies of their “Greek Paradigm
Handbook: Reference Guide
and Memorization Tool” were
sold out.
Pocket-sized and spiral bound
to lie flat when opened, the little
booklets include paradigms for
nouns, adjectives, pronouns,
verbs, and participles and go for
$9.95. The three charged just
enough to cover their costs, and
may pursue finding a publisher
and marketing their project
beyond the college. But they
weren’t in it for entrepreneurial
reasons. They just love Greek,
explains Geannikis. They had all
been making quick-reference
charts they carried in spiral
bound notebooks, and these
served as the genesis of the
handbook.
Giving up a large portion
of their summer vacation to
the project wasn’t easy, says
Wilford. “But when we saw the
copies, it was all worth it.”
Dink was impressed with the
trio’s final product. “I suspect
students-and tutors-will find
it useful both for learning
paradigms and as a reference
tool. It does for Greek morphol
ogy something analogous to
what Green Lion’s The Bones
does for Euclid’s Elements^
he says.
“People told us it was some
thing that should have been
done long ago, so it’s been very
gratifying,” says Romiti.
Even though they no longer
have Greek in tutorial, the
three will use their own refer
ence guides as they pursue their
next independent project
together. Last year, they worked
on Philoctetes and the Sympo
sium, meeting every week
for most of the year.
They’re also compiling
notes and preparing an
index for the next volume
of their handbook.
If they ever make a profit
on their book, Geannikis,
Romiti, and Wilford don’t
want to make it from John
nies. They consider the
project a gift to the commu
nity-even a type of offering-to the Program, to
Greek, and to St. John’s.
—Rosemary Harty
Ancient Greek meets the
Internet: (l. to r.) Erikk
Geannikis, Andrew Romiti,
AND Paul Wilford used a
CHAT room to compile
THEIR PARADIGM HANDBOOK.
Ariel Program
Emily Meyer (SF06) pictures herself as a psychologist, helping
children with developmental disorders. Her interest in clinical
psychology stemmed from a conversation with the mother of a
classmate who works with autistic children. Thanks to her
Ariel Internship at the University of New Mexico’s Genter for
Development and Disability, Meyer has a better picture of
what it would be like to work in the field, along with practical
experience for a resume and grad school applications.
Born out of the Santa Fe Initiative-a college-funded program
to improve student services and the physical environment on
the college’s Western campus-the Ariel Internship Program
provides up to $3,600 to support a student in an internship.
In 2005, approximately 30 students applied; Meyer was one of
nine whose internships were funded. She administered tests,
assisted with research, and visited rural communities in New
Mexico, where she helped with consultations. “I got experience
in all areas that I could,” she says. “I worked with other profes
sionals in the field, including physical therapists, occupational
therapists, and speech therapists.”
The Ariel Program is similar to the Hodson Internship in
Annapolis, a program funded by money from an endowment
established with a grant from The Hodson Trust. Both programs
are coordinated through the Career Services offices on campus.
As with the Hodson program, Santa Fe students can use the
funding for income while working in an existing unpaid
internship or develop their own internships.
Her St. John’s studies prepared her well for the internship expe
rience, says Meyer. “Other interns I met were just not as flexible as
I was in the way I could learn. The people I worked with were all
surprised that I didn’t come from a psychological educational
background and that I could work at a graduate level.”
{The College- St. John's College • Fall 2005 }
— Andra Maguran
�{Bell Towers}
7
A Garden Grows in Annapolis
To anyone who has sat in the
courtyard of Mellon Hall in
years past, the small reserve of
green space must have seemed
a pleasant enough place to pass
an afternoon. A lawn, a few
magnolia trees, and concrete
benches under a spectacular
willow oak gave the courtyard
some charm. But now, thanks
to a gift from one of the col
lege’s board memhers, the
courtyard has a true formal
garden with graceful rows of
perennials and annuals, flower
ing trees, teak benches, and a
birdhath in the center of a lawn
rich, green, and thick enough
for croquet.
The courtyard wasn’t an
original part of Mellon’s
design; originally, the long
classroom wing faced an open
field. Adding an administrative
wing to the building created
the courtyard in the late 1980s.
For many years, college plan
ners have hoped to improve the
space, but other buildings and
grounds projects took priority.
The transformation began
last year when the college
received a gift from Frederika
Saxon, a memher of the college’s Board of Visitors and
Governors, to fund a formal
garden. Saxon is a builder and
developer in Baltimore, and
she has frequently shared her
expertise with the college.
Other gifts helped
the college complete
the project. Both
Ted Wolff (A74) a
landscape architect
and partner of Wolff
Clements and
Associates, and
Cathy Umphrey, a
garden designer and
wife of tutor Stuart
Umphrey, worked
on the project for
substantially
reduced professional
rates. Wolff provided
the design for the
plan, while Umphrey
worked closely with
Wolff and the
campus planning
committee to choose
the native plants
and arrange them
in beds.
Cathy Umphrey, the director
of horticulture at Historic
London Town and Gardens,
said the magnolias gave her a
starting point for planning a
garden that will be beautiful
year-round. “The magnolias
have this wonderful brown fuzz
on the underside of the leaves,
and we took that color as one to
pick up again in perennials and
deciduous trees. The crepe
myrtles in time will develop
this really pretty brown bark
structure. The flower heads of
the Annabelle hydrangea along
the back of the garden will turn
brown in the winter,” she says.
Local Annapolis firm Eden
Contracting did much of the
work last fall, returning to add
new plants in the spring.
Together with the glassenclosed Mellon Cafe, the
inviting garden offers the
Annapolis community another
pleasant refuge for reading,
discussion, or just sitting in the
sun. “It’s a beautiful natural
sanctuary, a private reflective
space that students, especially,
seem to enjoy,” says Don Jackson, director of operations.
{The College - St. John’s College • Fall 2005 }
Above: A lush
lawn, teak
BENCHES, AND A VARIETY OF
NEW TREES AND PERENNIALS HAVE
CREATED A WELCOME NEW REFUGE
IN Annapolis.
Left: Board member Freddie
Saxon’s generous gift made the
garden a reality.
Saxon visited the garden last
spring when the fall plantings
were in and the first annuals
were in bloom. “She thought it
was wonderful,” Jackson says.
In addition to three different
planting beds, new sod was
laid and an irrigation system
was installed. Tutor Nick
Maistrellis, who has been
on campus long enough to
remember when the courtyard
was part of an open field, is
pleased with the way the
garden enhances the natural
environment on campus.
“The garden looks good no
matter where you’re sitting,”
he says. “It’s another welcom
ing place on campus.”
—Rosemary Harty
�{Bell Towers}
8
News and Announcements
New Tutors_______________________
Eleven new tutorsjoined the
Santa Fefaculty:
Keri Ames received a B.A.
from the University of Chicago,
where she did her graduate work
with the Committee on Social
Thought, earning master’s and
doctoral degrees. Her disserta
tion was entitled “The Conver
gence of Homer’s Odyssey and
Joyce’s UlyssesF
Lauren Brubaker received
his B.A. from Swarthmore Col
lege, and M.A. and Ph.D.
degrees in Political Philosophy
from the Committee on Social
Thought at the University of
Chicago. His dissertation was
titled “Religious Zeal, Political
Faction, and the Corruption of
Morals: Adam Smith and the
Limits of Enlightenment.” He
has been a visiting instructor at
the University of Notre Dame
and at the Air Force Academy.
Kenneth Davis (SFGIoa)
received his B.A. in Music Edu
cation from Georgia State
University. He holds a Mas
ter of Divinity from South
western Baptist Theological
Seminary, a Master of Music
from the University of
Tennessee, and a Doctorate
of Musical Arts from the
Eastman School of Music at
the University of Rochester,
where his dissertation was
entitled “A Performance
Analysis of Mendelssohn’s
Five Psalm Cantatas.”
Jessica Jerome received her
B.A. in Anthropology from the
University of California at
Berkeley. She received her M.A.
and Ph.D. from the University of
Chicago, where her dissertation
was titled “A Politics of Health:
Medicine and Marginality in
Northeastern Brazil.” She
recently completed a research
fellowship at the Pritzker School
of Medicine.
T. Andrew Kingston
received his B.A. in English Lit
erature from Kenyon College.
He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy
of Aesthetics, History of Music
from Boston University, where
the title of his dissertation was
“Rhythm in the Aesthetics of
Western Music.” He has taught
and lectured in humanities, phi
losophy of the arts, and music at
B.U. and Kenyon College.
David McDonald (SF95)
comes to St. John’s from the Los
Alamos National Laboratory,
where he was a senior techni
cian for the Influenza Sequence
Database, Theoretical Biology
and Biophysics Group.
Frederick Monsma (A82)
holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy
from Boston College, where his
dissertation was titled
“Descartes and the Gods of
Piety and Science.” Before com
ing to St. John’s, Monsma
worked in computer program
ming, Web design, academic
journalism, and education.
Laurence Nee received his
B.A. in Political Science from
the University of Illinois. He
holds master’s and doctoral
degrees in politics from the
University of Dallas, and a J.D.
from Northwestern University
School of Law. His dissertation
was entitled “Lockean Rhetoric
and Toleration: Language in the
Thought of John Locke.” Previ
ously, he was on the faculty at
John Cabot University and the
American University of Rome.
Gregory Schneider joins the
college from the Gallatin
Community Clinic in Bozeman,
Mont. He received his B.A. from
the University of Dallas and his
medical degree from the
Moving In
With a light to read by and a refrigerator for goodies, sophomores
Josephine Drolet and Haley Thompson have the essentials covered for a
NEW YEAR. In Annapolis, 149 students became Johnnies; Santa Fe welcomed
Z19
One new tutorjoined the
Annapolisfaculty thisfall:
Matthew Caswell (A96)
received his Ph.D. in
Philosophy from Boston
University with a disserta
tion entitled “Kant’s
Conception of the Highest
Good.” He has been the
recipient of a Presidential
Fellowship and a Disserta
tion Fellowship at B.U.
He spent 2002-03 at
Philipps-Unitersitat in
Marburg supported by a
DAAD research grant.
Awards___________________
Michael Ehrmantraut
received his B.A. in Political
Theory and International
Relations from Michigan
State University and his
Ph.D. in Political Science
from Boston College. His
dissertation was titled,
“Heidegger’s Philosophic
Pedagogy.” He received a
Bradley Foundation post
doctoral fellowship at
Boston College, where he
was visiting scholar for a
year.
University of MissouriColumbia.
Alan Zeitlin received his
B.A. and M.A. in English from
the University of California,
Davis. He received a J.D. from
the Boalt Hall School of Law,
and an M.A. and Ph.D. in
Classics from the University of
California, Berkeley. His
dissertation was titled
“Terence’s Dark Comedy.”
He has taught at Bard College
and Emory University.
William Donahue (A67) will
serve as Director of Laborato
ries. Donahue received his Ph.D
in the History of Science, from
the University of Cambridge.
A former St. John’s tutor, he is
the publisher of Green Lion
Press. He has also worked as
supervisor for the Department
of History and Philosophy of
Science at Cambridge and as a
laboratory technician for the
National Bureau of Standards.
freshmen.
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
_
The builder of Gilliam
and Spector halls on the
Annapolis campus has
been recognized with an
Excellence in Construction
award from the Washing
ton, D.C. chapter ofthe
Associated Builders and
Contractors. Bovis
Lend/Lease completed
Gilliam Hall late last sum
mer. Spector Hall, the
second new dormitory,
will open in January,
�{Letters}
Fine Memories___________________________
The article on Brother Robert brought back
some fine memories for me, and I would
hke to share an anecdote to show how
Brother Robert influenced other people in
addition to his St. John’s students.
A year and a half ago, I had occasion to
have dinner with the poet Robert Hass,
when he came to give a lecture at our
school in Monterey, California. His wife
told us that she worked at St. Mary’s in
Moraga, California, and that gave me occa
sion to mention Brother Robert. It turned
out that Hass had Brother Robert as a
teacher and had always considered him one
of the most influential people in his life.
He also felt that he had betrayed Brother
Robert when he was a student, because it
was a time when St. Mary’s was deciding
whether to remain true to the eternal ideals
or to become more contemporary and polit
ical. Hass sided with the contemporary,
while Brother Robert decided to leave
St. Mary’s and come to St. John’s. Hass told
me that he had always wanted to get back in
touch with Brother Robert, but he was
reluctant. I urged him to do so. I hope that
he has.
Gerry Kapolka, A74
Piercing Festival
9
City. Yet, at journey’s end, they found that
one of them used more gas. The only dif
ference was that one of the twins went by
way of St. Louis, the other by way of Miami
Beach. Voila-the Gasoline Paradox!
Wigner’s point was that many things are
path-dependent. The only weirdness is that
time happens to be one of those things.
It is a loss, I believe, that the Program
excludes textbooks. Some of the great
books were textbooks (the Summa for
example). The Program has wonderful
benefits. It excludes rote learning, which
many an inferior text promotes. And yet,
when Johnnies face the original literature
without pedagogical support, something
else is at risk, and that something is the
substance,
James H. Cooke
BROTHER ROBERT, IN HIS St. MaRy’s DAYS.
Welcoming Women
This was the inspiration for a career in
psychology which has been most satisfying.
I think Stuart would be proud to know he
has been instrumental in creating another
generation of therapy helping families,
marriages, children, and above all, teen
agers.
Thanks Stuart, you were right. I was
myself, and I did just fine.
Joe Tooley, SF69
The College featured articles on Johnnies’
experiences abroad. John Hartnett (SF83)
A Clear Account
wrote a piece about the piercing festival he
I’m sure many Johnnies could respond to
witnessed near Kumarakom, Kerala, India.
Mr. Newell’s comments on “Weird Sci
He tried to find out the origin of this pierc
ence” (Letters, Spring 2005), but as a for
ing festival during the rest of his trip in
mer tutor (Santa Fe, 1999-2001), please
India, but to no avail. My husband, Stephen
allow me. Neither the “Electrodynamics...”
Joseph, is from that area of Kerala, and
nor the Minkowski readings state or resolve
when I asked him about the festival, he told
the twin “paradox.” A clear account is
me that it was a Shiite Muslim festival cele
given in Spacetime Physics, by John A.
brating Muharram, the first month of the
Wheeler and Edwin F. Taylor, particularly
Islamic calendar. Shiites also mark the mar
in Ex. 49 in the first edition. Briefly, the
tyrdom of H az rat Imam Hussain, the grand
rocketing twin does not remain in an iner
son of the Prophet Muhammad, during this
tial frame, while the earthbound twin does,
time. The observances can range from
at least approximately, because the surface
wearing black to the more unusual practice
of the earth is almost free of acceleration.
of self-injury witnessed by Mr. Hartnett.
The rocketing twin must decelerate and
Laura O’Keefe, SFga
then accelerate back. The situation is not at
all symmetrical, and both the earthling and
Remembering Mr. Boyd
the rocketeer agree that the earthling’s
Stuart Boyd changed my life. As a young,
world line is nearly straight, while the
confused student at St. John’s, I went to
rocketeer’s world line is bent.
Stuart for counseling and guidance. After a
Eugene Wigner made it a practice to
few meetings he asked me to help him lead
present “The Gasoline Paradox” to each
a therapy group of students. I was a little
class he taught on relativity: Two identical
taken aback and said I wouldn’t know what
twins drove two identical Volkswagens
to do. Stuart said, “Don’t worry, just be
(with consecutive serial numbers from
yourself. You will do fine.”
Wolfsburg!) from Los Angeles to New York
{The College. St, John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
A small comment on “Coeds Invade St.
John’s.” At the time, the 1950-51 academic
year, I managed the labs, taught a sopho
more lab section, edited the Collegian and
served as president of the Student Polity.
When the subject was broached, Dick
pVeigle, president] asked me to convene a
meeting of the Polity to assess the student
body’s reaction to the notion of co-educa
tion. The college’s financial problems were
well known. We met in McDowell. Members
of the Baltimore, Annapolis, and Washing
ton press were welcome, but as observers
only. When the meeting was adjourned, I
would answer any questions they might
have. All but one [reporter] understood
this. He was ignored.
There were a few loonies in the group, it
was after all, St. John’s. A couple of Roman
Catholics objected to the presence of
women on traditional grounds. Most of the
concerns expressed were practical. The
sense of the meeting was that co-ed dorms
would be impractical, but women would
be welcome.
Stuart Washburn, Class of 1951
The College welcomes letters on issues of
interest to readers. Letters maybe edited
for clarity and/or length. Those under
500 words have a better chance of being
printed in their entirety.
Please address letters to: The College
magazine, St. John’s College, Box 2800,
Annapolis, MD 21404, or by e-mail to
rosemary.harty@sjca.edu.
�IO
{On Augustine}
AUGUSTINE
Seeing Our Lives in the Confessions
BY Kim Paffenroth, A88
his fall marks the 20-year
anniversary of my first having
read Augustine’s Confessions.
Ironically, the huge role it
would play in my professional
life was not apparent on that
first reading. Although the
Confessions are central to the
sophomore seminar readings
that would lead me in the direction of studying
Christianity in graduate school, I was much more
moved hy some of the other readings that year: the
Bible, Dante, Luther, and Shakespeare. Like many
other first-time readers, my initial reaction to
Augustine was mostly negative: he was, by turns, too
gloomy and pessimistic, and then too triumphalistic, judgmental, and arrogant. I don’t think I ever
could have gone all the way down the interpretive
roads that I have since found out are so popular in
the academic study of Augustine-“Augustine as
neurotic” and “Augustine as miner of Western
civilization’’-but I did not immediately connect
with his life and ideas. But I also did not completely
forget or ignore Augustine and his idiosyncracies,
mostly because he had one quality that most other
theologians lack: he had a story, full of fascinating
characters, compelling conflicts, and messy emo
tions. The often overwrought and melodramatic
quality of his story is exactly what puts off many
readers, but it is also what makes him undeniably
memorable. Such a preference for narration, rather
than exposition, is what would lead me to go on to
study the Bible, a book almost entirely composed of
stories, whose theology usually has to be inferred
and is not necessarily completely consistent. It
would also lead me not to reread that other giant of
sophomore seminar, Aquinas, for whom theology
seems to be a series of problems to be solved, not a
collection of problematic stories to be lived and told
and retold.
But appreciating Augustine for his narrative
power and his greater sense of ambiguity and drama
puts him at a distinct disadvantage in the long run,
for it puts him in competition with authors of much
greater artistry and beauty. In short, compared to
Aquinas, Augustine may sound like a Shakespeare,
but compared to Shakespeare, on aesthetic grounds,
Augustine is a complete dud, a theologian who rather
{The College. St. John’s College Fall 2005 }
�{On Augustine}
Painting
of St.
Augustin by Simon Marmion
{The College- St. John’s College - Fall 2005 }
n
�Ta,
{On Augustine}
“ . .Our sinfulness is
almost alwayspathetic
and meager and childish,
just like Augustine s. ”
heavy-handedly uses some episodes
from his own life to make his
theological points. This is one
case, however, where the dialogue
begun in seminar decades ago has continued most fruit
fully for me, because over the years 1 have found many dia
logue partners for Augustine in the books 1 have read.
Although many of those partners-Dante, Pascal, Goethe,
Dostoevsky, Melville, Flannery O’Connor-are much
more talented artists than Augustine, they engage him in
an ongoing dialogue that is enriching to our understand
ing both of Augustine and of their works. They all draw on
Augustine, especially his Confessions, as a source, a
source that helps illuminate their work, even as they elab
orate and complicate Augustine’s ideas. And, of course,
the ultimate goal of such a dialogue is not just to put
Augustine in conversation with other “Augustinian”
texts, but to put all of them in conversation with the intel
lectual and spiritual problems and questions of living
human beings in the present. 1 have had the pleasure of
participating in such conversations first as a student at
St. John’s, and now continuing as a student and teacher in
many classrooms in the years since. In a different, more
sustained but more static form, it is also the kind of
conversation 1 try to create and encourage in the books I
write on Augustine and others.
Scholarly work on Augustine strives obsessively to place
him in his time period, to understand all the religious,
historical, social, political, philosophical, and literary
influences of the late Roman Empire, and fit Augustine
into them. When this is done, we will presumably “under
stand” him, the way we would understand some fossil by
knowing its geological strata and the other dead objects
that surround it. Earlier scholarship tended to put a judg
mental tone on this process, usually leading up to some
statement that maybe crudely given as, “Poor Augustine
(or Jesus or Buddha or Mohammed), he was smart, but he
was just a man of his times! He thought the sun went
around the earth, he thought women were inferior to
men, and he thought slavery was okay. Aren’t we lucky
we’re not like that?”
Postmodern thought may be
thanked for being less arrogant (at
least on this one point) and
acknowledging that we are equally
as determined and limited as the
poor, benighted people of the past, but the effect on study
and an ongoing conversation is just as chilling: the
ancient text and person are still utterly irrelevant,
because each and every person lives isolated in his or her
historical context, a cubby-hole whose walls are transpar
ent to the enlightened historian, but which are never
permeable to anyone. What I propose here instead is a
very naive, but constructive, objectivity: of course Augus
tine and we have our different historical contexts, but I
regard them not so much as prisons, but as the unique
baggage each of us carries, and 1 assume that baggage is
being carried by women and men who are essentially very
similar, people who can even discuss and analyze either
their baggage or their fundamental human similarity, and
who can therefore learn from one another.
I offer here three of the striking scenes from the
Confessions, three vignettes which, it must be confessed,
form the basis of almost all my work on Augustine. I hope
this does not only show the narrowness of my own intel
lect, but the power of Augustine to make his story ours,
and to compel us to see our lives in his.
Sin
Confessions, Book Two
Augustine begins his Confessions famously with a
scandalous analysis of sin. Having alienated many readers
by asserting-not proving, I think, but asserting-that all
babies are just bad (Book One), he goes on to analyze a
youthful, though not infant, sin of his own (Book Two).
Augustine tells us how when he was i6, he and some other
naughty boys stole pears from a neighbor’s tree. What
focuses Augustine’s attention on this incident is that the
boys did not need or even want the pears: “I stole that of
which I had plenty, even of much better quality” (Conf
a.4.9, my translation, as are all subsequent); they do not
even eat them, but throw them away. Augustine, try as he
might, cannot come up with a reason for this sin, and this
{The College- St. John’s College • Fall 2005 }
�{On Augustine}
is what bothers him, and what he thinks should bother us.
Plato-who, according to Augustine, is correct on many,
perhaps even most, theological points {Conf. 7.9.13-15)had taught that sin was always a mistake, an incorrect
assessment of the situation, and could never be a deliber
ate, knowing choice of something evil. But that is exactly
what Augustine thinks was going on with the pear tree:
“It was foul, but I loved it. I loved to perish; I loved my
own ruin, not that for which I ruined myself, but rather I
loved my very ruin itself’(Co/^ 2.4.9). Augustine claims
here that doing something for no reason does not defuse
or diminish the wickedness of that act, but instead
increases it beyond all previous estimations and beyond
any previous ethicist’s ability to explain or cure it. Even
that exemplar of senseless cruelty, Catiline, was suppos
edly analyzable under the assumption that sin is the
13
In Augustine’s thought, sinfulness is linked to the “fragile,
UNPREDICTABLE STATE IN WHICH WE ULTIMATELY LIVE,” WRITES
Kim Paffenroth.
pursuit of a mistaken good {Conf. 2.5.ii), while Augustine
claims that at the other extreme of human behavior-not
in the outrageous, powerful violence of an emperor, but
in the paltry prank of a teenager-there lies an unexplain
able mystery of self-destructive evil. Augustine goes on to
suppose that this self-destructive urge comes from pride,
from the desire to be God, rather than to love and serve
God, “a dismal imitation of omnipotence” {Conf. 2.6.14).
I think the profundity and longevity of Augustine’s
story lie in our ability to tease out its implications
and bring it around full circle, as it were. Starting with
what is a pretty laughable scene, one can delve into the
theological profundities behind it, but then see once
{The College. St. John's College ■ Fall 2005 }
�14
{On Augustine}
'Augustine bequeathed
to Christianity a
much stronger divine
grace than others
had imagined...
more both the humor and profun
dity in it, when one tries to put one
self in the story. Perhaps more than
other episodes in the Confessions^
this is easy to do, for the scene of
teenage idiocy is surely universal: I
and another dissipated youth ignit
ed about a half-gallon of gasoline in a dumpster when we
were i6, and could offer no better explanation than
boredom and laziness, the sense of “ennui” and the need
for “diversion” that Pascal would seize on so powerfully
in his analysis.
In exactly the same way, I remember a student in my
first semester teaching at Villanova University also agree
ing to the plausibility of Augustine’s story, admitting in
seminar that he and some friends had stolen watermelons
from a store and then gleefully but painfully gorged
themselves to the point of physical illness. When another
student asked when they had done this, expecting an
answer that it had happened in fifth or sixth grade, the
first student replied, “The beginning of August.” The
whole class laughed, quite appropriately. Laughing at
ourselves has an important educational value here, I
think: it is not that we are discounting our sins, but that
our sinfulness is almost always pathetic and meager and
childish, just like Augustine’s. If honest with ourselves,
we would realize that we don’t have it in us to be a Milton
ian Satan, or a Hitler or a Khan: about the most any of us
could pull off would be to become a petty thief, liar, or
lecher, with little to show for our misdeeds, except the
pain we cause others, and the complete buffoons we make
of ourselves.
And what of Augustine’s assertion of the universality of
such pathetic sinfulness? Perhaps my student and I and a
few other immature rakes can identify with Augustine,
but is it good or accurate for everyone do so? I will only
relate another anecdote that suggests that admitting sin,
dwelling on it seriously as well as laughing at it, is anoth
er important and useful lesson that Augustine has taught
us in this story. Also at Villanova, I remember one student
who didn’t say much in class, often seemed bothered if I
said something irreverent about the Bible, and always
wore a cross necklace. She literally came undone in the
first class on Confessions, however,
berating Augustine for hating
babies and me for defending him.
At first I appreciated her vigor and
umbrage, and did not see the harm
in someone believing in the innate
goodness of babies, or of people in
general, even if I didn’t share her estimation. Then I
caught her flagrantly plagiarizing later in the semester.
She didn’t seem the least bit apologetic or remorseful,
only angry at me for catching her, and a little angry at her
self for not being more adept at cheating. While this is no
proof that optimism and hypocrisy go hand-in-hand, it at
least suggests that introspection, analysis, and admission
of guilt may play some role in moral formation and
improvement.
As I said above, however, most of us aren’t that sinful, if
“sin” means really bad things that we do to hurt other
people. Most of us will probably outgrow high school
pranks and college cheating, and settle down to a middle
age of mediocre virtue, rather than move on to bigger
and worse sins. But there is another aspect of sin in
Augustine’s Confessions, to which we now turn.
Life and Death in Sinfulness
Books Four and Nine
In Confessions Book Four, Augustine gives one of the
most beautiful descriptions of the joys and rewards of real
friendship:
There were other things done with them that
captivated my mind more: talking together and
laughing together, and happily taking turns at giving
in to each others’ wishes; reading well-phrased books
together, joking together, and showing each other
respect; disagreeing sometimes, but without anger,
as a person disagrees with him-or herself, the
infrequency of our disagreements making our many
agreements all the more enjoyable; teaching and
learning from one another, sadly longing for those who
were absent, and joyfully welcoming those who joined
us. Such signs, coming from hearts that loved and
were loved in return, were shown in our faces, voices,
eyes, and a thousand pleasant gestures, and were like
{The College. St. John’s College • Fall 2005 }
�{OnAugustine}
kindling to inflame our minds and make the many of
us into one. [Conf. 4.8.13)
But the conflict and drama of Book Four stem from the
fact that one of these friends has died, leaving Augustine
devastated and in despair. In Book Nine, Augustine gives
an equally beautiful, if rather more succinct, description
of his love for his mother, “A single life had been made out
of hers and mine” (Conf. 9.12.30), and then she too dies,
leaving him with another conflict over his painful emo
tions. These two stories together form a profound work
ing through of the implications of sin: not a dissection of
the actual act of sinning, as in Book Two, but a long look
at the facts and limitations of human life lived in a
sinful world.
In these two episodes, Augustine shows vividly the
main and unavoidable symptom of original sinfulness:
not that we inevitably sin, but that we inevitably die. And
dealing with others’ deaths is even more difficult for us
than our own mortality, for the sadness in which we live
after they’re gone can last indefinitely. This past year has
brought this unavoidable and uncomfortable truth home
to me more than in previous years, and with Augustine’s
help it has become both more meaningful and (a little)
less terrifying. In the months leading up to and then fol
lowing my 20-year high school reunion, I was constantly
reminded of Greg, a friend who died right after high
school. Never mind the sins that I and others commit
every day: I can think of no clearer proof that the world is
“fallen,” “broken,” or just plain “wrong,” than to
observe that in it a person of such obvious virtue as Greg
would die a slow, lingering death from cancer, at such a
young age, leaving no progeny, while a lazy, impatient,
short-tempered, sinful person like me gets the chance to
raise kids, surely with much less success than Greg
would have enjoyed. And shortly after the reunion, my
father died, after 24 years in which he never successfully
mourned or got past the death of my mother: his
loneliness and bitterness festered that whole time, till the
only emotions he could feel were hate and rage. Again,
one needn’t judge him an awful sinner to think that what
he did was “bad”-for it contributed to his misery, not
diminished it. In both these cases, as in the mysteriously
15
painful deaths that Augustine recounts, the world’s
sinfulness is shown most clearly not in the sinful things
we do, but in the faulty, sickened, fragile, unpredictable
state in which we inevitably live.
Augustine offers us not just a diagnosis of the diseases
of sin and death, however, but also the hope of a treat
ment. Though Book Two and the gravity of sin are the
most memorable parts of Augustine’s Confessions, they
are not the final word-just as hideous punishments are
the most memorable parts of Dante’s Divine Comedy, but
not his ultimate point. Augustine bequeathed to Chris
tianity the idea of a much stronger divine grace than oth
ers had imagined, stronger precisely because only it could
cure the horribly enlarged idea of sin that Augustine had
developed. And one of the simplest and most frequent
graces that Augustine saw in the world was the blessed
ness that comes from loving, human relationships:
“Blessed is the one who loves you [God], and his friend in
you, and his enemy for your sake” (Conf 4.9.14). The very
relationships that cause us pain, because the people we
love must inevitably suffer and die, can bring us joy when
God is a part of the relationship, for we acknowledge that
every moment spent with the beloved person is a gracious
gift of God, a gift meant to lead us back to the giver.
As in Plato, but with a far greater appreciation for how
difficult the ascent is, Augustine believes this urge to love
our creator is built into us from the very beginning: “You
have made us for yourself, and our heart is troubled, until
it rests in you” (Conf, i.i.i). Frequently titled a “Doctor of
the Church,” Augustine-like Socrates, who also claimed
to offer therapy for wayward souls-would probably prefer
the image of nurse or midwife for himself, for according
to him, only God can ultimately heal human hearts that
are broken by sin and mortality, but which still retain the
unique imprint of their creator and their only physician
(Conf. 10.3.3-4).
Kim Paffenroth (A88) is associateprofessor ofReligious Studies
and chairperson ofthe Religious Studies Department at
Iona College in New York.
{The College. St John’s College • Fall 2005 }
�{Alumni Voices}
A JOHNNIE WAY OF LIFE
The ExaminedLife Guides a New Journey
BY Brother Ezra Sullivan, O.P. (A04)
Shortly after he graduated from St. John’s in 2004, Randall
Sullivan entered a formation program of the Order ofPreachers,
also known as the Dominicans. He moved to Cincinnati to live at
the order’s friary, bringing to his small and austere cell few
personal belongings beyond his favorite Program books (Plato,
Aristotle, Dante). He traded hisjeans and t-shirtsfor a white robe
and a black cloak. He took the vows ofpoverty, chastity, and obe
dience, and a new name, choosing Ezra because Scripture por
trays Ezra, a priest and scribe, as a man who saw study as a
means to holiness. Several months into his new life, Brother Ezra
noticed the similarities between a Johnnie’s life ofthe mind and the
spiritual and intellectual life ofhisfriary.
nyone can tell what a college thinks of
itself hy looking at the glossy promo
tional pamphlets they use to recruit stu
dents. In one photograph, foothall play
ers and cheerleaders are prominent; in
another, students and professors in lah
coats. In the promotional material
St. John’s College sent me, one image is
predominant: hooks. Stacks of hooks,
students reading books, tutors and students discussing books.
Books and conversation capture the essence of the college.
In a similar way, if you were to leaf through a book of Catholic
saints, you would find that they are often pictured with a symbol
representing their characteristic quality. St. Peter is shown with
keys, reflecting his spiritual power over heaven and hell;
St. Augustine is shown with a pen in hand because he wrote exten
sively. There is one saint that many people do not know about,
perhaps because his symbol is so ordinary. It is St. Dominic, and
his symbol is a book.
Since August of 2,004, I have been a Dominican friar, a
follower of St. Dominic, and that means a book-lover. Almost 800
years ago, Dominic started the Order of Preachers, based on the
monastic Rule of St. Augustine, known to be a great reader and
writer of books. Since then, men and women have been a part of
Dominic’s Order, which was founded, like St. John’s, on the
insight that good books can do much good for the individual
and the community. The order’s mission-ropass on to others the
fruits of our contemplation-vs, strikingly similar to the college’s
goal to endow young men and women with critical thinking
skills in order to take their place as responsible citizens. The
Dominicans were founded on the insight that reading should lead
a person to contemplate, and contemplation should lead him to
share his insights. Though friars preach and Johnnies do not, they
are similar in that they read, contemplate and share insight as a
community of learners and for a community of learners, with the
goal of enriching community life and the world.
Consider first the main paragraph on the St. John’s Web site,
which describes the aims of the college: “Through sustained
engagement with the works of great thinkers and through gen
uine discussion with peers, students at St. John’s College culti
vate habits of mind that will last a lifetime: a deepened capacity
for reflective thought, an appreciation of the persisting questions
of human existence, an abiding love of serious conversation, and
a lasting love of inquiry.”
Notice its similarities with this passage Ifom the Dominican
Constitution: “[A brother’s] intellectual formation consists
principally in the development of judgment. Therefore, a critical
knowledge of sources, an understanding of principles, and an
ability to reason properly must be carefully cultivated, so that the
brothers may be fitted to study by themselves and to take part in
serious dialogue.”
I saw clear parallels between St. John’s and the Order of
Preachers during a Dominican studies class earlier this year. The
class was structured like a seminar: the novice master (in charge
of first-year Dominicans) opened class with a question about a
reading we had done the night before. Seated at a square table, we
would discuss the reading for a couple of hours. The novice
master would guide the conversation, but he certainly did not
dominate it. Everything you would expect from a good conversa
tion arose: opinions, arguments, questions, clarifications, and
the occasional dogmatic claim. These conversations, which often
cropped up again at dinner or recreation, illustrate a Dominican
saying about intellectual disputes: “Never deny, rarely affirm,
and always distinguish.”
One incident around Lent showed me that friars are like
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Fall 200s }
�{AlumniVoices}
Johnnies in their desire to be free from the
ephemeral in order to think on things that
are more lasting. Every morning we had
newspapers in our eating area; these papers
distracted some friars, who tried to fix the
problem by throwing them away. This
caused some controversy, which the commu
nity addressed by keeping papers out of the
eating area during Lent. This is remarkably
like the controversy at St. John’s about put
ting a Washington Post\)<yti in the Annapolis
coffee shop. (The box prevailed.)
At St. John’s, the routine was very much
the same for four years: many hours spent
alone reading, writing essays, working out
proofs, or translating alone in our rooms.
Then the bells of McDowell would summon
our mandatory attendance to laboratories,
tutorials, and seminars. In the friary, I
awake at 6:15 each morning to start the day
with prayer, read until 7:30, then join the
community for common meditation in the
silence of a dark chapel. After breakfast,
there is usually a lecture or seminar discus
sion, followed by lectio divina—^xvi2i\i& study
of the Scripture in our cells. Midday prayer
and lunch are followed by an apostolate in
the afternoon; it might mean a speaking
engagement or shelving books (I was the
librarian this year). A free afternoon can
mean time for a walk in the woods or personal reading. We have
Mass and vespers at 5:15, followed by community recreation.
Dinner is sometime spent in silence (during Lent, for example);
when we can speak, theology is almost always a topic. After
dinner, it’s time for sacred study, followed by night prayer. Some
in the community go to bed afterward, but I stay up to read for a
few more hours.
Like St. John’s, such a seemingly rigid regimen actually allows
for great freedom. It’s like the freedom of writing a fugue or a
musical piece: inside those rules that give something its form,
there are infinite possibilities. At St. John’s, I could choose what
to doubt and what to accept as truth. In the friary, I can choose
what to read, I can choose who to speak with and what to speak
about-and those are the most important things. I have the free
dom to develop my own talents or hobbies, like playing the penny
whistle in our small Irish band.
At St. John’s we had Don Rags each fall and spring. At the
friary, I meet privately with my novice master once each month
and give him an account of my institutional life: my thoughts
about the readings, my performance in class, my relation to
brothers here, and what that means about my character. It is like a
self-led Don Rag. Once or twice a year I receive an analysis by the
senior friars who live with me to determine whether I should
continue being here. This June, as I stood in line with other friars
17
In service to his order. Brother Ezra, formerly Randall
Sullivan (A04), finds freedom.
for our “examinations,” I had very little anxiety. Three years of
Don Rags had prepared me for this type of evaluation.
While there are many similarities in the life I led for four years
at St. John’s and the life I have entered into now, there are of
course many fundamental differences. A friar is devoted to a life of
prayer, and our order is devoted to preaching the word of God. In
addition, a friar is permanently in a Catholic religious institution;
a Johnnie may be changed forever by his St. John’s experience,
but he will typically go on to many different endeavors in the
outside world.
Given the special place of St. John’s in American higher
education, some might bristle at their secular college being
compared to a band of medieval preachers-a perfectly reasonable
objection. It is a little like comparing the philosopher Plato with
the theologian Thomas Aquinas, men vastly separated by creed
and culture. For some, such a comparison will only produce
difficulties. For others though, for that rare breed of people
intrigued by difficult questions-what is the meaning of life?
What is truth? What is virtue?-the comparison might produce a
worthwhile conversation.
Brother Ezra Sullivan can be reached by e-mail at
rg_sullivan @hotmail. com
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Fall 200s }
�i8
{Commencement}
PARTING WORDS
“GREATER EXPERIENCE, MEASURED PASSIONS”
Alumni Send Grads on a Magn^centJourney
The Perma-Johnnie
In this excerptfrom his commencement speech, tutor Joe
Macfarland
referenced the Gorgias as he explored the idea
ofthe ''Perma-Johnnie in one sense, the graduate who hangs
around the Annapolis campus as long aspossible; in another, more
profound sense, the individual who is never willing to abandon a
lifelong questfor a deeper understanding ofimportant ideas:
.. .In past ceremonies, when I have sat to the side of the stage, I
have wondered. .. .What could I say to persuade you to rejoice, all
at once, at your accomplishments here as well as at your departure?
At that moment, in a darker, cynical turn of thought, I imagined
that the perfect commencement speaker would be Callicles. A
strange choice, you’re thinking, given that this Platonic character
seems wicked, or at least deeply troubled, since he argues that the
rule of the stronger is by nature just. But a few sentences from his
speech will explain my thought:
For philosophy, to be sure, Socrates, is a delightful thing, if
someone engages in it in due measure at the proper age; but if
he fritters his time away in it further than is needed, it is the cor
ruption of human beings. For even if he is of an altogether good
nature and philosophizes far along in age, he must of necessity
become inexperienced in all those things that one... must have
experience of.. .It is fine to partake of philosophy to the extent
that it is for the sake of education, and it is not shameful to phi
losophize when one is a lad. But when a human being who is
already rather older still philosophizes, the thing becomes
ridiculous.. .For seeing philosophy in a young lad, I admire it,
and it seems to me fitting, and I consider this human being to be
a free man, whereas one who does not philosophize I consider
illiberal, someone who will never deem himself worthy of any
fine and noble affair. But whenever I see an older man still phi
losophizing and not released from it, this man, Socrates, surely
seems to me to need a beating. . .It falls to this man. . .never to
give voice to anything free or great or vigorous... .(Gorgias,
484c, ff.)
Callicles has a low reputation among us admirers of Socrates,
and the seniors would, I suspect, never invite him to speak;
nevertheless, I find it hard to avoid hearing at least a faint
Calliclean echo in many commencement addresses. He does not
A “PERMA-JOHNNIE,” SAYS JoE MaCFARLAND (A87), IS ONE WHO NEVER
STOPS SEEKING WISDOM.
say, after all, that you should not philosophize; he says you should
philosophize when you are young so that you may become a free
human being, well-educated, and capable of good and noble deeds.
So rather than giving you a Calliclean echo. I’ve given you the
outrageous original. I’ve even made it partly my own, because
whatever the faults of the man, there might be just enough truth in
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
continued
�{Commencement}
''What are the sources of
this excellence within us?''
Joseph Macfarland (A87)
In Santa Fe, Sarah Holmes and Christopher Horne are
PLEASED TO HAVE DIPLOMAS IN HAND.
{ TheCollege.5?. John’s College • Fall 2005 }
19
�ao
{Commencement}
Annapolis
GRADUATES ( L. TO
R.) Sandeep Das,
Janae Decker, and
Marshall Derks.
continued
this speech for me
to adapt it to my
own purposes and
to send you on your
way. I have, how
ever, two thoughts
on how to reconcile
his harsh words
with the things we
admire. . .
My first thought
is his association of
philosophy and
youth rings true to
me, not because
philosophy is child
ish, as he implies,
but because youth
seems somehow
more philosophical; there’s less of wisdom in it, and more yearning
for wisdom. Among these seniors it seems fitting to recall Alyosha
and Ivan Karamazov, ig and 33 years old, having tea and cherry pre
serves at the Metropolis, while they pursue the eternal questionsthe existence of God and the immortality of the soul-and while they
weigh the strenuous demands of justice and freedom against a faint
hope of forgiveness and love. I find the conversation intoxicating at
least in part because it is the conversation of young people: earnest,
impassioned, open-ended, revealing a hunger for rebellion that is at
odds with a simultaneous longing for solidarity. Wise and foolish in
confused ways, their words reach further than they themselves ini
tially understand because of the way in which their youth blends
naivete and audacity.
When I go to seminar I count on all these qualities being present.
In the afternoon I mull over questions distilled from what I have
learned since I was an undergraduate, but in the evening I wait
patiently until you no longer feel obliged to discuss my question,
when it is safe to shift the conversation to your own, a question
arising from your own convictions and doubts; it is often a question
I didn’t think of, yet still a question for me, and thus a question I did
n’t recognize as my own. Thus, I believe that philosophy is rightly
associated with youth, but I’ll draw a somewhat different conclusion
from this: however much our adult life is occupied with seemingly
more serious and urgent pursuits, we must not feel compelled at all
times to act our age; we must not be ashamed, in the company of a
good friend and prompted by a good book, to recover the intoxicat
ing audacity and naivete of youth, so that we do not fail to reopen
the eternal questions now and again, in the light, we may even hope,
of greater experience and more measured passions.
The second point I want to touch on is Callicles’ emphatic
elevation of an active public life over a private life of conversation
and inquiry. It is this emphatic assertion that makes his words seem
so fitting to commencement as well as so jarring to us. Recoiling
from the shock of
the assertion, I am
made aware of a
tension between
the openness of
our spirit of
inquiry and the
customs that bind
us together in it.
Prompted by the
various opinions of
our authors, we
wonder how to
weigh the active life against the theoretical. We wonder: does
human excellence take multiples forms, or one above aU? What are
the sources of this excellence within us? If the virtues are disparate,
how are we to weave them together into a single life? For years we
have come together on Monday and Thursday evenings to pursue
these and related questions; everything else in our schedule has
been organized around this fact. The force of this immutable custom
tacitly implies a specific answer to such questions, the answer that
lured us here in the first place. After you have crossed the stage, and
said your good-byes, when your Monday and Thursday evenings are
uncannily free even well into autumn, when you are free from the
customs that bound us in practice to a certain kind of a theoretical
life, those questions may seem more open-ended to you than they
ever did before, and what you then do in your freedom will consti
tute much more of an answer to such questions than anything you
have said here.
In the Land
of the
Phaiacians____________________________________________
After earning an engineering degreefrom Princeton University,
water rights attorney John Draper studied consumer law in Swe
den, then earned a law degreefrom the University ofNew Mexico.
He completed the college's Graduate Instituteprogram and earned
his degree in ujgr. He spoke, in this excerpt, ofHomer:
One of the things that I have found personally rewarding over the
years has been a focus on the stories of Homer, both through the
Program here, and through weekly meetings over many years of [a]
group .. .of about six people who get together for an hour and a half
every Sunday afternoon to translate from the original Greek for
discussion by the rest of the group. Our progress might look
outrageously slow to those outside the group, like my wife, but I
think of it as being like sipping a fine wine.
{The College. Sf. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
�{Commencement}
For me, one who has never formally studied ancient Greek, this
weekly exercise of many years stemmed originally from a desire to
get as close as possible to the people and gods of Homer’s world.
As a result, many of the Homeric episodes have stuck with me.
For instance, I imagine you remember, from the Odyssey, how the
Phaiacians, after entertaining Odysseus on their island, listening to
his stories and showering him with gifts, brought him to a beach in a
well-protected cove on Ithaka. He didn’t at first recognize that he
was in his own home country. He wondered whether the people in
that seemingly strange land were “savage and violent, and without
justice,” and whether they were “hospitable to strangers.” Athena
arrived and showed him a cave near the beach in which to store his
gifts from the Phaiacians. Homer described the cave as having the
sea-purple weavings of the nymphs on stone looms and, strangely, as
having two entrances-one for mortals-and one for the immortals.
Homer left unexplained what he meant by an “entrance for the
immortals.”
I’m pretty sure I’ve been in that cove and in that cave. Our family
had the opportunity a few years back to sail to Ithaka. It’s in a fairly
remote part of Western Greece, far from Athens. About 300 yards
behind the beach of the cove that is so well protected, as Homer
says, that you don’t even have to anchor or pull your boat up on the
beach, is a cave. Its entrance is very narrow, so narrow that it was
difficult for us to slip through it-but then it opened up into a large
room with a high arching ceiling and with the purple weavings of
the nymphs on the walls, the work of water seeping down the cave
walls since time immemorial. And there was the entrance for the
immortals-a shaft of sunlight coming down at an angle through a
hole high in the ceiling of the cave-not a place for mortals to try
to enter!
Those treasures of Odysseus were stored for safekeeping in the
cave, while Odysseus and Athena went out and “took care of
business.” He had arrived on Ithaka after a dream voyage, and now
he had to go out and take care of some practical issues, hke ridding
his kingdom of the insolent suitors, rescuing his wife and son, and
re-establishing law and order before he could retrieve his gifts.
John Draper (SFGI97) likened commencement to leaving a
“lovely island of a campus.” Treasures await, he said.
Below, Santa Fe grads process to the Placita.
This sequence of events in the life of Odysseus may have some
similarity to the sequence of events in your lives at right now.
You, too, have been in the land of the Phaiacians, sharing stories
and lessons on this lovely island of a campus. Today, you are being
deposited on what may look like a foreign shore at first, but it, too, is
really your home. You, like Odysseus, may be wondering whether
the inhabitants of the seemingly foreign world outside this campus
are savage and violent, and without justice and whether they are
hospitable to strangers.
Like Odysseus, you will find, I think, that this new world is not so
foreign after all, that it has a place for you in which you can make a
home. While there will be battles you will need to fight, just as there
were for Odysseus, you are likely to be successful because you are
well-equipped from the lessons you have learned here and, like
Odysseus, you will have Athena at your right hand whenever it is
necessary for you to fight against savagery and injustice.”
The complete commencement addresses are available on the
St. John ’j Web site: www.stjohnscollege. edu
{The Colleges?. John’s College • Fall 2005 }
�{Commencement}
aa
A LONG TIME COMING
Graduates Savor Completion after Many Years Away
BY Rosemary Harty
Santa Fe: Peggy O’Shea
In high school, everything came easily to Peggy O’Shea (SF87)*.
So it was with shock that she quickly felt overwhelmed after
joining the freshman class of St. John’s College in 1983. “Bottom
line, I really wasn’t prepared for the kind of personal challenge I
found at the college,” she says.
O’Shea grew up in Wilbraham, Mass. She chose St. John’s
because she was eager for an education that didn’t involve
memorizing and repeating back answers. But when she arrived at
the college, she found it hard to shift to what her fellow Johnnies
seemed to be doing so easily.
“I think what I had the most trouble with was that I didn’t know
how to read the material analytically and ask the right questions,”
she says. “I was still reading the material to spit it back. I didn’t
have the skills to challenge the books. When I would go to class,
it was very difficult to participate in the discussions. I was
intimidated in class, and everyone else seemed to be doing so
much better.”
After three semesters, O’Shea left the college and took a job in
health insurance. She began as a claims processor, but her super
visors noted her ability to pick up new things and promoted her
frequently. “Even though I was only at
St. John’s for three semesters, it made a
huge difference in my analytical skills and
reasoning-I think freshman math helped
a lot with that,” she says. “I found myself
in the information systems department,
even though I didn’t have a computer or a
degree. I could look at the software, figure
out where the logic was breaking down,
and give evaluations to the programmers
on how to fix it.”
O’Shea prospered in the field for 12,
years. “Then managed care came along
and took the fun out of everything,” she
says. She moved into sales, where she also
did well, particularly in a favorite job: sell
ing BMWs in the Baltimore area. She was
making a nice income, she was having fun,
and fife was good-until February 16, aoot.
“I was driving home from work and was
hit head-on in an intersection a mile from
my house,” O’Shea recalls. Her car was totaled and she suffered a
serious neck injury. Taking customers for test drives seemed less
appealing, and after she was rear-ended in 2002 and the lingering
injuries from the accident worsened, O’Shea knew it was time for
a change. She began job hunting. “For the first time in my life, I
found they weren’t even interviewing me because I didn’t have a
degree,” she says.
O’Shea had attended college part time, off and on, and consid
ered applying her credits to a program in which she could earn a
degree after about a year of full-time study. One program she
looked into would grant credit for her work experience. Good
grades would probably come more easily than at St. John’s.
It was tempting. But instead, O’Shea sat down and filled out an
application for readmission to St. John’s. “I really wanted that
accomplishment of challenging myself,” she explains. “I chose
St. John’s because to me, it’s more about who I’m going to be
as a person.”
Returning to the college in Santa Fe would allow her to make a
fresh start. With Buddy, her chocolate Labrador in tow, O’Shea
drove west and settled into an apartment. Being about 20 years
older than most of her classmates made her feel a little self-con
scious, especially when a bookstore clerk tried to give her a tutor’s
discount. Overall, O’Shea felt warmly
welcomed by the campus community.
Through the Career Services offices,
she learned of an internship in the Gover
nor’s Office, applied, and got it. Since it
was unpaid, she held down a second job,
working on a FedEx loading dock from
5 a.m. to 8 a.m. each morning. “It was
really hard getting up for work after
seminar nights,” she says.
Through her internship O’Shea discov
ered a passion for public service. In Gov.
Bill Richardson’s Constituent Services
office, she was doing interesting work
that she felt was important. At the end of
her junior year, she was hired as a
contract employee.
{The College -Si. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
Celebration: Peggy O’Shea’s parents,
Patrick and Mary Ann O’Shea, were on
HAND FOR COMMENCEMENT IN SaNTA Fe.
�{Commencement}
In the classroom, the Program was just
as difficult as O’Shea remembered it, and
there were times during junior and senior
years when the workload became oppres
sive. After struggling with her sopho
more essay she took advantage of writing
assistance and improved her papers. Her
tutors were encouraging.
“I worked as hard as I possibly could
and just stuck it out,” says O’Shea.
“There was no way after so many years
away and giving up so much to go back
that I would drop out.”
“When Peggy O’Shea joined my sopho
more seminar, after ao years away from
SJC, I wondered if this quiet woman
would be able to hold her own among her
far younger classmates,” says Santa Fe
tutor Patricia Greer. “ Well, not only did
she hold her own, she shone! With
tremendous determination and dedica
tion, Ms. O’Shea found her voice at the table and her stance on the
books. She struggled to remember how to write a seminar paperand then began to produce fine work! During the two and a half
years she was with us in Santa Fe, she became such a solid and
important member of our community.”
On May 21, O’Shea’s parents, brother, and great-nephew; her
girlfriend, Susan; and Susan’s parents were all in the audience
when she received her diploma. “It was a great celebration,” she
says. Within weeks, she had packed up again, this time starting a
new phase of her life as a student in the LB J School of Public Affairs
at the University of Texas in Austin. She will take the LSAT this
fall, and if accepted into the program, hopes to shift to a four-year
joint degree program in which she would earn a J.D. and a Master
of Public Affairs. Ultimately she’d like to work as a policy adviser at
the federal level.
O’Shea can’t help but wonder how her life might have been dif
ferent if fate hadn’t set her on a course back to St. John’s. Some
times she misses that thrill of closing the deal. But the same skills
she used to put customers in a slick new 3 Series will come in handy
when she’s ready for Washington. “In politics, you have to sell your
ideas,” she says. “I really think I’ll be good at that.”
Annapolis: Nick Golten
For many years, Nick Colten (A97) was a baker. Day after day, he’d
rise in the dark for his 4 a.m. shift at a neighborhood cafe in
St. Paul, Minn., his hometown. Bundled up against the icy winters,
he’d walk to work and spend the day baking bread, rolls, muffins,
and cakes. Most of the time, he hated it-but he was stuck in a hold
ing pattern after leaving St. John’s in the spring of 1994.
“I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do next,” Colten says.
Several things had prompted him to drop out. Perhaps he wasn’t
quite ready for the full scope of the Program. He loved to read, and
he thought St. John’s was the place for him. “Academically, I did all
23
Nick Colten joined
clues and made
CONNECTIONS WITH OTHER JoHNNIES WHEN
HE RETURNED TO CAMPUS.
right,” Colten recalls. “And I liked the
give-and-take of discussions.” Yet he
didn’t feel connected to the community,
so after his freshman year, he went home.
Colten first found a restaurant job as a
line cook, and that led to baking. Baking
may seem a pleasant way to earn a living,
Colten says, but he found it hard, tedious
work. “For one thing, I was chronically
sleep-deprived. And managing so many
different tasks at the same time-that’s
the difficult part. Mix up the dough,
knead the bread, get that batch in the
oven, start a second batch, check on the
bread in the oven.”
After work, he’d take a nap, later
heading out to the Oak Street Cinema,
an art house where he volunteered in exchange for free admission.
He loved Buster Keaton and Francois Truffaut films. Citizen Kane
and Casablanca. His other intellectual refuge was the Minneapo
lis-St. Paul chapter of the St. John’s Alumni Association.
“The chapter seminars sustained me for a long time and ulti
mately got me interested in going back to school,” says Colten.
Friends and family nagged him. Eva Brann, whom he had visited
often while she was dean and he was a freshman, encouraged him.
After about eight years with his arms elbow-deep in bread dough,
Colten was ready to come back. He started in the fall of 2002.
“I was nervous about the Greek-I had my old manual and
tried to prepare,” he recalls. After a seminar on Genesis went
“especially well,” Colten found himself excited about his studies in
a way he hadn’t experienced the first time around.
“I also felt a great desire to be connected to the community,” he
says. “I joined the fencing club, study groups, EnergeiaC He
joined the waltz committee and learned to dance. He became a reg
ular contributor to the Gadfly, where he found an outlet for his
passion for politics and public affairs.
Colten worked on campus, in the mailroom and at other jobs he
could pick up. Supporting himself and keeping up with the Pro
gram was exhausting, but it was all so much better the second time
around. “I didn’t want junior year to end,” Colten says. Every year,
for his birthday, he’d bake a big birthday cake and leave it in the
Coffee Shop for others to eat.
On May 15,12 years after first coming to Annapolis, he graduat
ed. His plan is to attend law school and eventually work in public
interest law. “Holding public office-I don’t think that would be
good. But helping to get the right people elected, get the right
things done, that’s something I’m interested in,” he says.
*College tradition assigns alumni status based on the originalyear
ofmatriculation, for graduates and nongraduates alike.
{The College - St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
�{Homecoming}
24
-- ........
JOHNNIES
JOURNEY HOME
By Libby Vega (SF06)
anta Fe Homecoming 2005 welcomed seven nnderHomecoming seminars. “I cherish the seminar,” noted Khin
graduate reunion class years back to campus July i
BLhin Guyot Brock (SF88), and many agreed. Elaine Pinkerton
Goleman (SFGI88) made time for homecoming “for the chance
to 3, and also brought together more than 20
to really converse about great literature, and the mental
Graduate Institute alumni to commemorate the
loth anniversary of the Eastern Classics program.
challenges.” Reunions this year included class years 1970, ’75,
The Eastern Classics
’80, ’85, ’90, ’95, and 2000.
Seminar topics ranged from
graduates celebrated a decade of
inquiry into the foundational texts
Nietzsche to Chekhov to Joyce.
of India, China, and Japan with a
Alumni this year were also treated
special reunion at the Hunt House
to Shakespeare Reader’s Theater, a
on Friday, hosted by President
seminar and minimalist theater
Michael Peters, enjoying his first
performance in which there are no
homecoming. The EC party was
full sets or costumes. The script is
followed by a lecture and concert
used openly, as the emphasis is on
by renowned sitar player Allyn
the text itself. Both Reader’s Theater
Miner, a senior lecturer in the
performances, of The Tempest and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, were
Department of South Asia Studies
at the University of Pennsylvania,
student-led under the direction of
where she is a teacher and scholar
Marnelli Hamilton (SF05), assistant
of Sanskrit, Hindi, and Urdu
director of alumni and parent
music. Drawing on her extensive
activities.
musical and historical knowledge.
“When I first learned how Reader’s
•r.u- Annval Homm-omim;
Miner spoke on the cultural
Theater works, I thought it would be
background and compositional
a unique and original way to examine
structure of sitar music, demon
texts many of us have read but few of
strating on the instrument.
us have performed,” Hamilton said.
“In classical Indian music,”
Later in the afternoon attendees
she explained, “a rag or raga is
were treated to a “Speaking Volumes”
the melody, whereas a ras or rasa
lecture entitled “Euclid Made Me
is the emotion of a rag.”
What I Am Today,” by William
«
fc»»>
.
After the concert, the music
Kowalski (SF94), author of the novels
played on with a rock ‘n’ roll party X
Eddie Bastard and The Guardian.
in the coffee shop. Many alumni
In his talk, Kowalski discussed why
said the spark of memory was
his lifelong ambition to be a writer led
ignited the minute they caught a
him away from creative writing pro
glimpse of old friends. “I came to
grams and toward St. John’s College:
reconnect with my classmates, most of whom I hadn’t seen for 10
a desire to study more than just the craft of writing, and to
years,” said Ben Friedman (SF95).
become a more well-rounded and interesting person.
On Saturday morning, alumni gathered for what might be con
continued onpg. 26
sidered the most familiar and popular offering of the weekend;
{The College - John’s College Fall zoos 1
�{Homecoming}
Homecoming in July in Santa Fe
FEATURED MANY HAPPY ENCOUNTERS:
(clockwise from top: Sharing
Homecoming yfith a future
Johnnie; Danilo Marrone (SF90)
catches up with a classmate;
Elaine Pinkerton Coleman
(SFGI88, left) and Dianne Cowan
(SFgzjpERFORM A Shakespeare
play; Santa Fe tutor Robert
Sacks (A54) engages an alumna in
conversation.
{The College. John's College ■ Fall 2005 }
35
�a6
{Homecoming}
ALEXIS Brown (SFoo,
EC03) RAISES HER GLASS
IN CELERRATION.
continued
Continuing the celebration of authors and artists, the doors
swung open to the All-Alumni Art Show immediately after the
lecture. The show featured works in an array of media, including
painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, jewelry, video,
textile, and glasswork.
With children ushered to special games and a pizza party,
alumni took part in a Homecoming banquet on the Placita. Each
class offered its own group toast, and toasts were made for new
honorary alumni Bonn Duncan and Elliot Skinner.
Elliot Skinner joined the Santa Fe campus a year after its
founding, having studied the classics and philosophy at
Princeton University and the University of Colorado. Alumni
Association President Glenda Eoyang remembered Skinner as
an outstanding tutor and a “gentle spirit” from her student days
in Santa Fe.
“We know that then, as now, each tutor and each student
engaged with others to make discoveries about themselves and
each other, the part and the whole, knowledge and opinion,”
Eoyang said. “Mr. Skinner was a master at such engagement.
One alumnus, a particularly snotty one, reports that in sopho
more language Mr. Skinner taught him to see that he was a snot
and how not to be one-a good lesson that we could all teach and
learn more often!”
Skinner, she noted, had a talent for drawing out reticent
students in seminar. “Though there are many examples of his
generosity and insight, one that distinguishes him in this com
munity is the support he has given to help quiet students find
their voices in seminar,” she said.
Duncan, Eoyang said, has been a true friend to the collegeone of the many people in the Santa Fe community who donate
their time and talents to support the college. As chair of the
Philos Society,
Duncan leads an
organization of
Santa Fe residents
who support the col
lege and its program
of study through
fundraising and
other activities.
Duncan earned his
bachelor’s degree
from the University
of Kansas and his
medical degree from
the University of
Missouri School of
Medicine. He completed his residency at the Johns Hopkins
Hospital and specialized in head and neck surgery. After a visual
injury ended his surgery career, he became the chairman of
Health Systems International, a computer company which he
brought from Yale University to the private sector.
“Not only is Dr. Duncan, himself, a friend of the college, but
as the chair of the Philos Society, he is also a leader of friends
and a friend of leaders,” Eoyang said. “Those ofyou who are my
vintage may be surprised that the college has committed and
active friends in the Santa Fe community-they were a rare breed
in my day. Because of Dr. Duncan and his friends, there is a
different story to tell today. Under his stewardship, the Philos
Society has demonstrated friendship to the college in
many different ways, including initiating the ‘Inviting
Conversations’ program and hosting events such as
Summer Classics and wine tastings.”
With hunger then abated and the night sky
resplendent, the Midsummer Ball commenced with a
swing band.
As the weekend drew to a close, the final event was a
Sunday brunch at Hunt House, home to President
Peters, and his wife, Eleanor. Always well-attended,
this year’s brunch gave many alumni their first
opportunity to meet President Peters and the new
vice president for advancement, Jim Osterhoft, and his
wife, Debbie.
Glenda eoyang welcomes Elliot Skinner to the ranks
OF ALUMNI.
{The College -St. John’s College • Fall 2005 }
�{Homecoming}
a?
Artwork Unites Johnnies over the Years
t is said that art
transcends the hounds
of time, and so does the
fellowship that unites
St. John’s College
alumni. The college’s
annual All-Alumni Art Show
has always been a stimulating
venue for alumni of all ages
and backgrounds to celebrate
the spirit of art and creativity
that the Program inspires, but
it is not often that the artist
and patron are separated by
more than 6o years of age,
especially when the purchaser
is only 21. At the 2005 alumni
art show, one piece of artwork
stood out for Mia Posner,
(SF07). It was a small wooden
sculpture entitled Flash
Dancer, created by Billy Lieb (A45).
Despite the fact that Ms. Posner is an
undergraduate student on a tight budget,
she knew she had to have it. What com
pelled her was not only the charm of the
piece, but also the fact that it is the craft
work of an alumnus so much her senior.
“It’s so important for Johnnies to
support each other, even if we’re separated
by generations. There is no formal art
The annual Alumni Art
Show continues to be a
FAVORITE PART OF
Homecoming WEEKEND in
Santa Fe. Above, Santa Fe
SENIOR Mia Posner with
Flash-Dancer, by Billy
Lieb (A45). Below,
I
GALLERY VISITORS ARE
TAKEN WITH THE ARRAY OF
ARTWORK ON DISPLAY.
program here, so I appreciate Johnnies
who can explore their artistic side as well
as the academics,” she says. She wanted to
buy the piece before the art show even
opened. The sculpture had caught her eye
one afternoon while she helped Maggie
Magalnick, the gallery curator, set up the
exhibit.
The artist attended St. John’s College in
Annapolis for two years during and just
after World War IL He
then went on to get his
degree in film from
UCLA in 1952. He spent
25 years working in film
before retiring to become
a peace activist and
attend art school. Since
then, he has studied with
Jill Geigerich, Laddie Dill, Georg Herms,
and Betty and Allison Saar, and shown his
work at the University of California,
Riverside.
The sculpture is also significant to
Ms. Posner because she, too, is very inter
ested in film and art. She sees the piece as
inspiration. “It serves to remind me that
St. John’s alumni are a community. We may
be separated by years and miles, but
nonetheless, we are a family.”
—Andra Maguran
{The College -St. John's College ■ Fall 2005 }
�a8
{Student Voices}
“I AM A DISTANT SON
99
Annapolis Senior Joins Youth in a Questfor the Self
BY Donald Stone (Ao6)
“The whole ofthis doctrine leads as to a conclusion, which is ofgreat importance in the
present affair, viz. that all the nice and subtle questions concerningpersonal identity
can neverpossibly be decided, and [because ofthis, they] are to be regarded rather as
grammatical than asphilosophical difficulties. David Hume.
‘Tam a distant son, a man, a convict and a cousin. lam charitable, smart, strong and
talented. lam happiest when I’m on the good side ofpeople and they think lam a good
person. ’’-Will P., 17.
" ill wrote these
simple, poetic
words while par
ticipating in
Insights: Identity
Project, a Vision
Workshops program. Will’s words seem
to echo Hume’s conclusion that one’s
personal identity is not so simple as to
be articulated. According to Hume it is
possible for Will to be a convict and
everything else he lists. However, it is
not possible for one to ozt^be a convict,
for Hume would say that is our imagina
tion creating simplicity in a perception
of a person’s identity for the sake of
articulation.
In Treatise ofHuman Nature, Hume
explains that we are inclined to ascribe
identity to objects because of our
incapacity to always appreciate the great
variety of parts that compose these
objects. For instance, because of our
imagination “a ship ofwhich a consider
able part has been changed by frequent
reparations, is still considered the
Justin E., a self-portrait.
same” and “an oak that grows from the
small plant to a large tree, is still [consid
ered] the same oak,” although in each case
them. More specifically, participants in the
not even one part of the whole may be
program learn to use the tools of a photothe same.
journalist-writing and photography-to
As a photography instructor for Vision
explore and express aspects of their
Workshops, I am introduced to students
identities.
who have grown and experienced frequent
Based in Annapolis, the nonprofit
reparations. It is my job and my pleasure to
organization Vision Workshops partners
learn from the participants what else there is with the Juvenile Drug Court of Anne
besides “juvenile delinquency” in their iden Arundel County and National Geographic to
tities, and then I assist them in identifying
cultivate alternative means of expression in
parts of their lives, environments, and per
underserved youth. With the guidance of
sonalities that are particularly important to
writing and photography instructors and
W
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
dedicated volunteers, students are given the
opportunity to learn collaboratively with
their peers, gaining new perspective on
their self-image and controlling which parts
are shared with the world. On the first day of
the program, held at Maryland Hall, a cul
tural center not far from campus, each stu
dent is put in charge of a camera. Over the
next month, he or she will be responsible for
its safety and will use it to complete
home assignments. Some have never
used a camera before; others are sur
prised to be entrusted with it. In the
first two hours of the workshop they
shoot their first roll of self-portraits,
and later print their own photographsalways a highlight of their experience.
By the end of the program each stu
dent creates and polishes a short poem
or essay and a self-portrait photograph.
A great strength of the program is the
gratification the students feel in having
success in learning a unique skill, and
the pride associated with sharing the
final product they create. An effort is
made to have the students’ work widely
displayed in exhibits at the District
Courthouse on Church Circle and at the
Chaney Gallery in Maryland Hall.
I became involved with Vision Work
shops at the end of my sophomore year,
when photographer Kirsten Elstner, the
director of the program, accepted my
request to volunteer in the fall of 2004.
The exceptional group of people I
worked with, coupled with the capabil
ity of exploring my interests in photog
raphy and in working with teenagers, made
my time volunteering a lot of fun and helped
balance out all the time I spend with the
“old dead guys’ on the reading list.
Along with the support of volunteers.
Vision Workshops succeeds through the
energy and direction of Kirsten Elstner and
freelance writer Cindy Edwards, and with
the support of the Anne Arundel County
Juvenile Drug Court, Maryland Hall,
National Geographic, Nikon, and the Target
Corporation.
�{Student Voices}
Donald Stone (Ao6) volunteered last
year with Visions Workshops, helping
youth who have heen involved with
the court system to express their
feelings in words and images. He
also drew Chester Martin (Ao6) and
Freya Thompson (A07) into the
program as volunteers. “I’ve heen
grateful for its influence in informing
my post-St. John’s thoughts and
aspirations,” Stone says of the pro
gram, to which he returned for anoth
er year this fall.
Self-portraits by (clockwise, top right)
Raymond H., Henry M., and Paula T.
{The College.Si. John’s College . Fall 2005 }
29
�30
{Bibliofile}
World Federalism: Idealism Meets the Cold War
The Politics of World Federa
tion: Vol. i: United Nations, U.N.
Reform, Atomic Control. Vol. 2:
From World Federalism to Global
Governance.______________________
by Joseph Preston Baratta
(Praeger, 2004)
By Rosemary Harty
n his thorough two-volume history
of world federalism, Joseph Baratta
(A69) shows that the political
climate of the 20th century could
have heen vastly different, if after
World War II the idealists and
intellectuals had heen effective in drafting
a world constitution to unite governments
across the globe, if national leaders had
seen the necessity of founding a much
stronger United Nations to keep the peace,
and if millions of people had been prepared
to follow wiser leadership. The Politics of
World governments must seek newways to
World Federation is a comprehensive
UNITE FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL HUMANITY, SAYS
history of a movement supported by a wide
Joseph Baratta.
range of people of differing backgrounds
and political ideologies. Instead of world
federal government, Baratta shows, the
on to establish a new program at
world got the Cold War-complete with the
SUNY, Old Westbury, inspired in part by
Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and
St. John’s.
decades of arms production that consumed
Baratta, who teaches history and
resources that could have been directed to
international relations at Worcester State
more beneficial uses.
College, labored for 25 years on the
The world federalist movement included
project. His interest was first piqued by
atomic scientists, such as Albert Einstein
encountering the “Preliminary Draft of a
and J. Robert Oppenheimer; intellectuals,
World Constitution” of 1948, republished
including Robert Hutchins and E.B.
by Robert Hutchins in 1965. Baratta
White; lawyers once connected to U.S.
admired the ideals of the movement for
government, such as Grenville Clark;
many reasons, first, after serving in the
energetic and passionate young students,
Marine Corps during the Vietnam War,
such as Harris Wofford; and seasoned
and second, studying works such as the
politicians, like Brooks Hays and Henry
Federalist Papers and Plato’s Republic at
Wallace. World federalists were men
St. John’s. “In the Marine Corps, we were
and women who reacted to the use of the
told that the purpose of a battle is to reach
atomic bomb with horror and with the
a decision,” said Baratta. “I wondered if
deep conviction that nations must join
there were not a more rational way to reach
together or face an inevitable third
a decision. At St. John’s I saw that the
world war.
reason why wars continue is that the world
The movement also attracted the
has no working rule of law.”
attention of Stringfellow Barr and Scott
Baratta began reading volumes of Com
Buchanan, founders of the New Program at mon Cause, the journal of The Committee
St. John’s, and many others intimately
to Frame a World Constitution, written by
involved with the college, including Mark
Hutchins, G.A. Borgese, and Adler.
Van Doren, Mortimer Adler, and Wofford,
“These people explored the anarchy of the
a close friend of Buchanan, who would go
national state system in the spirit of the
I
{The College- St. John’s College • Fall 2005 }
conversation of the great books,” Baratta
says. He combed through thousands of
documents and conducted dozens of inter
views. He wrote his doctoral thesis at
Boston University on world federalism and
continued his research for what would
become The Politics of World Federation.
“I discovered a movement that hadn’t
made it into the history books,” he says.
His final product is not only an outstand
ing scholarly achievement, but also a
personal testament for his own strong
views that today’s governments must seek
out new ways to bring the world together
for the benefit of humanity.
Baratta concentrates on the period after
the failure of the League of Nations. In
1939, a journalist named Clarence Streit,
alarmed by Hitler and the portents of
another world war, published a book called
Union Now, which proposed a federal
union of democracies against the Axis
powers. “If ever a book made a movement.
Union Now was such a book,” writes
Baratta. Publication of the book led to
organizations including Federal Union in
the U.S. and Great Britain and World
Federalists in the U.S. The most active
years for the movement were those
immediately following the bombing of
Hiroshima. Internal dissent, a lack of
adequate funding, and McCarthyism
weakened the movement, and by 1954,
Baratta writes, it was largely defunct.
A pivotal issue in the failure of the move
ment was the rejection of the Baruch Plan
for the international control of atomic
energy, presented to the United Nations
Atomic Energy Commission, June 14,
1946. The plan proposed the creation of an
International Atomic Development
Authority that would manage “control or
ownership of all atomic-energy activities
potentially dangerous to world security,”
ultimately placing America’s nuclear
weapons in the hands of an international
body, which would have had many
attributes of a world government.
If the world federalists had the power
and numbers to back the Baruch plan, the
story might have been different, but “they
didn’t unite themselves until 1947,” says
Baratta. “Then President Truman
announced the Truman Doctrine, which
inaugurated the Cold War. Federalists got
organized too late.”
�{Bibliofile}
In his second volume, Baratta devotes a
chapter to another pivotal time: the events
surrounding the Pocono Conference of
T948, when Stringfellow Barr was most
actively involved in world federalism. Barr
and Buchanan had left St. John’s in 1946,
following a successful but bitter fight
against a Naval Academy takeover of the
campus. They attempted to start a new
college in western Massachusetts, but
could not attract adequate funding for their
vision. Barr took a year off, Baratta writes,
but he quickly became very involved in the
most revolutionary wing of the world
federalist movement. While others worked
gradually by U.N. reform, Barr and others
felt that the atomic bomb required
recourse to a “people’s convention
a grassroots approach to working outside
of national governments by selecting
international delegates who would draft a
world constitution. McCormick reaper
heiress Anita McCormick Blaine gave
$T million to the cause. Barr became chair
man of a planning committee, aiming at
election of 143 American delegates to a
constitutional convention in Geneva in
1950. Britain had a similar movement, led
by MP Henry Usborne, to elect 2,8 popular
representatives to the convention.
Scott Buchanan, who later worked with
Barr, opposed the people’s convention.
He believed the place to start was with the
U.N. and with national governments:
“World government is a revolutionary
idea. It would touch every last item of our
political life. Most people who believe in it
do not realize this. They also don’t realize
Michelangelo’s Mountain:
The Quest for Perfection in the
Marble Quarries of Carrara
by Eric Scigliano (SF75)
Free Press, 2005
Eric Scigliano has roots in Carrara, a village
in the Apuan Alps in northwestern Italy,
that run as deep as the veins of prized
marble that have been quarried there for
more than 2,000 years. Scigliano’s
great-grandfather and his relatives were
quarrymen and stone carvers in the
quarries of Carrara, the same quarries that
Michelangelo frequented to select the finest
marble for his sculptures. In Michaelangelo’sMountain, Scigliano offers a historical
perspective on Carrara and its famous
how much opposition there will be to it.
For this reason the PC horrifies me.”
Barr, however, continued the approach.
The money was used to establish the
Foundation for World Government, but it
all came to naught in all the difficulties of
the time for forming a more perfect union
''Contrary to so many
ofmy experiences in
life, I continue to have
faith in human reason.
Worldfederation
offers apositive vision
ofpeace.
Joseph Preston Baratta
with adherents of the Communist party.
Mrs. Blaine wanted Henry Wallace, the
Progressive party candidate for president,
to be a board member. Leaders among the
United World Federalists feared the Com
munist strains of Wallace’s challenge to
Truman in 1948 and would not take any
money. Barr, writes Baratta, “found
himself in possession of a million dollar
foundation for world government, whose
support the American movement would
not accept, at a moment when money was
marble-pietra viva, “living stone”-as
evoked in the gospels, Plotinus, Michelan
gelo, and folktales. Scigliano unearths
surprising Carrara connections, such as
how Dante’s wanderings in the marble
country influenced The Divine Comedy.
Long interested in the Italian Renais
sance, Scigliano wrote his sophomore essay
on Giovanni Bellini’s painting, St. Francis in
Ecstasy and Boticelli’s St. Augustine, and
drew insight and inspiration from a
preceptorial on Michelangelo. “I’m sure I
would have gone to Italy anyway, but this
preceptorial sharpened my eye and laid the
groundwork for this project,” says Scigliano.
In recent years, he has made several trips to
Italy, where he reconnected with his rela
tives who still work in the marble business.
{The College • St. John’s College • Fall 2005 }
31
never more urgently needed to build up a
popular movement for an East-West settle
ment and permanent peace through world
government! ”
Nevertheless, the world federalist
movement had major achievements.
It brought about resolutions favoring
U.S. participation in a world government
in aa state legislatures, and some 16 bills
were introduced in Congress. Hearings
were held on the topic in the House in 1948
and ’49 and in the Senate in 1950. Senators
Hubert Humphrey, Wayne Morse, Claude
Pepper, and J. William Fulbright
supported these bills. A large literature
from over 70 nations on fundamental U.N.
reform has been produced, including the
Chicago draft constitution and Grenville
Clark and Louis B. Sohn’s World Peace
through World Law. Even Barr and
Buchanan’s foundation pioneered new
international fields like functional eco
nomic and social cooperation, Gandhian
nonviolence, and individual educational
field work anticipatory of the future Peace
Corps. Most federalists, like international
ists, have today mended their differences
in favor of universal membership, repre
sentation of democracies, maximal powers
affecting both peace and justice, and U.N.
reform for the transition.
“I’m an idealist,” Baratta says. “Con
trary to so many of my experiences in life,
I continue to have faith in human reason.
World federation offers a positive vision of
peace. Its history exhibits a new kind of
world political wisdom.”
The narrative traces Michelangelo’s
passion for his art and his grueling journeys
into the mountains of Carrara to find mar
ble that had never before been extracted.
He weaves Michelangelo’s life story with
the story of Carrara itself-a region of
intrigue and rivalries, including Medici
conspiracies to overturn the Carrarese
marble monopoly. It was also a region of
conflicts, such as those that took place
between Roman legions and Liguri tribes,
Napoleonic and Austrian invaders, and in
modern times. Fascists and resistance
fighters. Scigliano also considers Michelan
gelo’s legacy in today’s international
sculpture community,
—Patricia Dempsey
�{AlumniProfile}
3^
Peter Fairbanks, A73, Values the Authentic
BY Patricia Dempsey
t the Montgomery Gallery
in San Francisco, founding
director Peter Maynard
Fairbanks (A73) cuts a tall
figure, wearing his trade
mark bowtie and sipping
tea from a china cup as he confers with
clients at a round, inlaid igaB Saarinen
table. Trained at Sotheby’s, London, as an
art connoisseur, appraiser, and auction
eer, Fairbanks is also an art dealer and a
consultant appraiser to Antiques Road
show, the popular PBS series now in its
ninth season. Fairbanks’s work requires
expertise developed over 30 years in the
art world: the ability to distinguish the
authentic from the false.
One afternoon, Fairbanks received a
call from a man who had just purchased on
eBay two watercolors allegedly by Picasso
and Miro; the caller wanted to know if the
works were genuine and asked for an esti
mate of their value. “I told him, T can’t
tell you anything from a phone conversa
tion; I need to see them,’ ” says Fairbanks.
“He brought the two paintings to me and
besides it being immediately apparent to
me that they were fakes, I also recognized
the hand of the forger. After 3a years in
the auction and art business. I’ve learned
to distinguish the authentic from the
false-both with objects and the people I
meet.”
Fairbanks glides easily between describ
ing the billion-dollar fine arts fairs at
which he exhibits in London, New York,
Paris, and Maastricht, the Netherlands, to
nature. I enjoy the physicality of handling
his stint as an instructor at the Hurricane
objects, the discovery, the research, the
Island Outward Bound School in Maine. He
authentication. I needed to see the front
often draws upon his roots as a pragmatic,
and back of a painting, see what stretchers
flinty New Englander for the perseverance
and canvas it’s on, not just look at photo
to succeed in the art world. He combines
graphs or slides and learn from footnotes.”
his flair for business, nurtured during boy
Fairbanks’s desire to examine all aspects
hood summers when he “farmed” no lob
of a subject drew him to St. John’s. Fair
ster pots off the Massachusetts coast, with
banks came to St. John’s in his aos, having
his love of art. Growing up in Gambridge,
first attended Bard College for a year,
Fairbanks developed a deep appreciation
followed by three years of conscientious
for fine art, especially from his mother,
objector’s alternative service during the
who studied art history in the graduate
Vietnam War. “Given my way of learning,
program at Harvard’s Fogg Museum. “I
thought I would be a professor as well, but I the structure at St. John’s suited me-the
regular regime of small classes, daily read
found that academia was too dry for my
A
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Fall 200s }
Is IT REAL, OR A VERY EXPENSIVE FRAUD?
Peter Fairbanks knows the difference.
ings, dialogues, and theorems on the black
board, and most difficult for me, the fixing
of one’s thoughts in the written word. It
was a terrific education. It’s impossible to
compare St. John’s to any other higher
education institution-there is no place like
it. It’s like being in a monastery for four
years, where the students are speaking
their own language, so deeply immersed in
the ‘life of the mind.’ ”
There’s a connection, Fairbanks says, to
the type of careful analysis done in the
�{Alumni Profile}
Program and the work he does today, “I
think it was at St. John’s that I learned the
process of how to examine, and that has
been invaluable throughout my life, both
personally and professionally,” says
Fairbanks. “At St. John’s I learned to
question accepted postulates.”
After graduating from St. John’s,
Fairbanks took on a yearlong executive
program at Sotheby’s, London. The course
was directed by the late Derek Shrub.
“His approach to the history of art and
antiques was as unique as the education at
St. John’s,” Fairbanks says. “I was trained
to identify the style, date, nationality, and
perhaps author of an object with the idea
being that every object is a part of its
culture, a part of the spirit of that time.
I was expected to examine a leg of a chair, a
part of a candlestick, passage of a painting
and determine: Is it Southern German,
Eastern French Baroque, or Northern
Italian Baroque? While wildly annoying at
the time, this approach allowed me to look
at that Miro watercolor dated 194a and the
Picasso dated 1934 and determine they were
both most likely executed in the 1960s.”
Following his training at Sotheby’s, Fair
banks worked in the auction business for
15 years as an appraiser, executive adminis
trator, and auctioneer in New York, London,
and San Francisco. He went to San
Francisco to “grow” the then-small regional
Butterfield Auctioneers, making it the
1949
third-largest auction house in the United
States. By 1984, Fairbanks was “consumed”
by administrative tasks. “I realized my work
was far from the fine art objects that origi
nally inspired me to enter this profession.
So I founded the Montgomery Gallery with
two former employees.”
Even when he delivers the news that a
Picasso purchased on eBay is a forgery,
Fairbanks wants people to understand how
he arrives at that conclusion. He wants
them to be at ease with art. “A large part of
this profession,” he says, “is educating your
clients about the art they are attracted to,
assisting them in understanding that their
own-often unexplored-visual vocabulary is
valid. I try to help them feel comfortable
and show them they already have taste. But
many feel a tremendous imbalance between
the knowledge I have and their lack of it.”
Through his work for the past decade as
an appraiser for Antiques Roadshow,
Fairbanks has helped make knowledge of
fine art accessible to the wider public. “I
never thought of myself as a good student,
yet at St. John’s the great books were
accessible to me. It’s the same in the art
world-knowledge is accessible to every
one,” says Fairbanks. "Antiques Roadshow
has helped to demystify the world of fine
art. It has also been a lot of fun.’
1950
The Rev. Fredemck P. Davis
John R. Garland is continuing
writes: “Let me report to the
alumni of the early to middle
years of the ‘new’ program that
Rachel (Hinman) Hovde, widow
of Chris (class of 1945), died at
91 years on May i, 3005. Long
time organist and choir director
at St. Anne’s Church, she
became a clergy wife when Chris
took orders in Chicago.”
in an informal seminar group
started years ago by Tom
Williams (class of 1951). “After
55 years I’ve finally learned how
to finish reading before the
discussion,” he writes.
33
Good News, Bad News
Fans of the popular PBS series
Antiques Roadshow tune in to see
some guests discovering a valuable
find among their attic treasures, oth
ers learning that their item is nothing
but yard-sale fodder. In a February
2004 episode, appraiser Peter Fairbanks-who has been with the show
since its debut-had good news for a
California man who brought in a por
trait of his ancestor. Commodore
Thomas Tingey, painted in the early
19th century by John Trumbull.
Along with a framed copy of Tingey’s
commission (signed by President
John Adams) and his uniform, the
portrait represented “a great collec
tion of American history.” History,
swell-but the cash value? Fairbanks
estimated the well-preserved and dis
tinctive portrait as worth $30,000 to
$30,000. Too bad the painting wasn’t
in its original frame though, Fair
banks noted; that might have brought
the value as high as $50,000. 4"
attend Homecoming for my 50th
reunion, hut I felt poorly and soon
was told I had to undergo open
heart surgery on October 38.1 am
only just now really pretty much
back in living trim. I am writing
this to assure those of my class
mates I missed seeing this 50th
Homecoming that I hope to see
them at the next 50th.”
1964
1954
Richard B. Carter hated to
miss Homecoming last year in
Annapolis; “I fully expected to
William C. Triplett, II, and
Eleanor Noon Triplett are
pleased to announce the birth of
their first grandchild, Evelyn
Berwanger Triplett, born July 3.
{The College -St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
1967
Ginger Kenney (Gay Singer)
writes with professional and
family news: “Along with Sasaki
Associates’ principals Daniel
Kenney and Ricardo Dumont, I
have completed a book on
campus design for the
ACE/Praeger Series on higher
education. Written for institu
tions leaders and the planners
and designers who work for
them. Mission and Place:
Strengthening Learning and
Community through Campus
Design shows how institutions
can leverage one of the most
�{AlumniNotes}
34
powerful resources they have for
overcoming today’s challenges:
the campus and its environs,
providing a foundation for
making decisions about the
physical campus that are
grounded in the institutional
mission. Mission and Place is
available from Greenwood
Publishing Group (www.greenwood.com) andAmazon.com.
In other news, my son Adam,
23, graduated last year from
Brown University and is now
working in software develop
ment for Microsoft in Seattle.
My daughter Margot, 18, has just
started her freshman year at the
University of San Francisco and
is planning to major in Spanish
and Latin American studies.
Alas, neither one of them a
Johnnie, but both happy in their
choices, which is, after all, what
counts. Now empty-nesters, Dan
and I are hoping to travel a little
more in our ‘spare’ time. Can
you tell we’ll be heading west
from time to time?
I am now working in strategic
academic planning and in edito
rial consulting, as I progress
toward a certificate in financial
planning. I’ve also been active in
the Boston chapter for a number
of years. The chapter welcomes
visitors to the Boston area to join
in its activities.”
1969
Beth A. Kupe (SF) writes, “I’ve
moved to Longmont, Colo.,
about 12 miles from Boulder and
40 miles from Denver. I love it
here-there is so much commu
nity spirit! I’m just a day’s drive
north from Santa Fe, and I wel
come visitors: 3800 Pike Road
#30-203, Longmont, CO 80503,
303-682-0169, bethkuper@
yahoo.com.”
1970
Jeffrey D. Friedman (A)
writes: “We are up to eight kids
and eight grandchildren. I am
now using the analytical and
listening skills from St. John’s in
Talmud study, teaching, and life
coaching. Anyone in Israel,
e-mail, or call and come visit!
Friedyo7@netvisi0n.net.il.”
1972
David Carey (A) is a philosophy
professor at Whitman College
in Walla Walla, Washington,
“tackling Plato, Aristotle,
Augustine, and Aquinas
annually. Thanks to SJC for the
wonderful preparation.”
1973
Jeff Angus (SF) has publishing
news: “In what seems a relatively
trivial note, my newest book
came out at the beginning of
baseball season. Management by
Baseball: A Pocket Reader
(Occam & Dihigo, $12.95) is a
management how-to book
predicated on the Truth that
almost everything you need to
know about management you
can learn from baseball. Using
lessons and stories from the
national pastime, it presents
practical tools to teach managers
and aspiring managers how to be
more effective at the work in any
kind of organization. A bit like a
Stephen Covey book, but less
Mormon. Anaximander,
Heraclitus and Lucretius
(still The One), are all small but
essential ingredients in the mix.
The book can be purchased
through independent book
New Beginnings
NDREW PiETRUS and ZoE Beatty (both A91) have
three news items: Sofia was born April 23; she
joins Marcel, a, and Matthias, 4. Zoe finishes OB
residency in Jnly and enters private practice back
in Raleigh (they planned to move in July from
Pennsylvania). Andy wraps up four years of being
a stay-at-home dad and will return to teaching middle-school
students at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Raleigh.
sellers or directly online from
the Management by Baseball
Web site: http://cmdr-scott.
blogspot.com
“I’m still doing management
consulting, still a contributing
editor at Info World, writing
product reviews and an occa
sional feature. I’m now writing
opinion columns for the online
version of the magazine
CIO Insight, and sabermetric
analysis for The Seattle Times.
“I’m about to become a
grandfather for the first time. My
step-daughter, Alexandra, who
lives in Paris with her French
husband, will have given birth to
a baby in July.”
Joan Heller (A) reports:
“David Humphreys (A69) and I,
for better or worse, are no longer
together, and I have reverted to
Joan Heller. Our four sons,
dialectically educated at home,
are: Justin Heller Humphreys,
20-year-old classics major at
Reed College in Portland, Ore.;
Samuel Barnes Humphreys, 17year-old aspiring ballet dancer in
NYC; Nathaniel Harding
Humphreys, 14-year-old student
of the Emerald Ozma Home
School in Ashville, N.C.; and
Nicholas Menzel Humphreys,
g-years-old with Down
syndrome, arguably our most
avid reader to date.”
{The College. St. lohn’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
1975
Four exhibitions of artwork by
Howard Meister (A) began in
August and continue through
the winter. “Stilled Lives”-lifesize digital scans of dead things
exhibited at the Contemporary
Artists Center in North Adams,
Mass., in late summer.
Other recent life-size scans of
food and eroticism were on
exhibit at the Last Minute
Gallery in Northampton, Mass.,
December 30-January 29. A
selection of Meister’s studio
“Art Furniture” from the 1980s
and 1990S will be on exhibit at
The Modernism Show at The
Armory (NYC) in November and
at Art Basel Miami in December.
Howard can be reached at
HMMeister@aol.com.
1977
Judy Kistler-Robinson (SF)
moved from Minnesota in Febru
ary and has enjoyed the long
spring in Plano, Texas. She is
working as a usability specialist,
improving voice user-interface
designs for banking, communi
cations, and other automatic
voice response systems.
Judy heard recently from
Katya Shirokow (SF76) inquir
ing about next year’s 30-year
reunion. Katya shared this news:
�{Alumni Notes}
35
Barrelhouse: Pulp, Pop, Prose
" hy must so-called
“literature” and
“pulp” always
remain at odds?
Why, asks Aaron
Pease (A98), can’t
there be a bridge between modern and clas
sic, something that will appeal to both
those who already love literature and those
who don’t know what they’re missing?
Barrelhouse is meant to be just that. A
literary journal featuring everything from
poems to short stories to essays, inter
views, and comics. Barrelhouse was created
by Pease and a few of his friends who meet
regularly to critique each other’s writing.
Pease has a day job as a proposal writer; by
night, he’s simply a writer, one with a love
for both classical literature and modern
writing.
“We toyed with the idea for a while, and
it started making sense,” Pease says. “We
thought there was a niche for this kind of
thing-something not just functional, but
site, where they receive writing submis
appealing on multiple levels. Something
sions from around the country in all differ
that looks good, has solid writing, but still
ent genres. From these, they selected a few
manages to reflect our culture without a
to put into their first print edition oiBar
jaundiced eye.”
relhouse, published late last fall. The goals
Barrelhouse was designed to appeal to
for the magazine remain fluid: for now,
both those who are already avid readers
they’re content to remain mostly Web
and those who are “interested in ideas and
based, while getting the print version out
brightly colored things.”
in the D.C. metro area.
Pease and colleagues started with a Web
W
“My son, Alexander, is now 10
years old. I am producing nature
and wildlife films for television
and still live in California. We
recently produced two films for
PBS called Kalahari: The Great
Thirstland and Kalahari: The
Flooded Desert. I’ve been
spending over 10 years traveling
frequently to Africa-mostly to
Botswana-bits that are still very
wild and very empty of people
and very, very far from the
troubled parts of that huge con
tinent.” Katya’s next project will
be in Latin America.
Asks Judy: “Any other class
mates thinking ahead to this
reunion?”
Gene Glass (A) writes: “I have
become a grandfather much
more quickly than I was pre
pared for! It’s all good, though,
as the son of my stepdaughter is
now almost five months old. I’m
looking forward to seeing friends
at our 30th reunion in 2007.”
1979
A LITERARY JOURNAL WITH AN ATTITUDE:
Aaron Pease (aSq) hopes to bring culture
TO THE MASSES.
“Putting together something like this
requires critiquing ourselves and our
choices, trying to figure out why we like
the stories we like,” he says. In selecting
material for the journal, the editors try not
to dismiss something because it falls into a
“type,” while not publishing a submission
just because it fills a “type” they haven’t
addressed. Eventually, they want to solicit
stories and essays from established
authors, take out ads in writers’ magazines
to target emerging writers, and assign their
poetry section to a full-time poet.
They’re off to a good start. The first
printed edition A Barrelhouse featured
stories from a combination of new and
recognized writers as well as an interview
with country/folk legend Emmylou Harris.
When asked how they managed to get to
talk with the legendary singer. Pease con
fessed that they had an “in”-one of their
good friends is a relative. “But,” he says,
“we’ve found that people are more willing
to talk than you might think. It’s publicity
for them, and they’re still just people.”
teacher, interpreter/translator,
and business owner in Japan;
1993-96, law school at Indiana
University in Bloomington; 1998
to present, lawyer. “Married to
Carmen, and loving it! Contact
me at leslie_westmoreland@
yahoo.com. I would love to hear
from you!”
1980
Leslie W. Westmoreland (SF)
is a deputy attorney general in
Fresno, Calif., and here’s how he
got there: 1980-82, Peace Corps
(Zaire); 1983-84, ESL teacher in
Saudi Arabia; 1985-93, ESL
—Roseanna White (A04)
1983
This fall Desiree Zamorano
(SF) will be a new member of
Occidental College’s Education
Department faculty, as well as
the director of their Community
Literacy Center.
1986
Bob Neslund (SFGI) will teach
Latin half-time the next two
years and write a history of
Shattuck-St. Mary’s School for
its 2008 sesquicentennial.
{The College. St. John ’5 College ■ Fall 2005 }
Susan Read (SFGI) writes
that she’s “still enjoying my
life in Connecticut, teaching.
�36
{AlumniProfile}
An Island Refuge
Sarah Mara, A6i, Has Deep Roots on Lone Pine Island.
ot everyone can experience
life on a tiny island in the
St. Lawrence River, suffer
the thrill of plunging into
icy water on a summer’s day,
or watch the lights of pass
ing freighters dance on the water at night.
Wanting to share some of the most vivid
memories of her childhood, Sarah Robin
son Mara (A6i) joined with her sister, artist
Nancy Rohinson Hammond, in creating
A Snug Little Island, a children’s hook that
presents the joys of life on Lone Pine Island
through the eyes of two children.
Sarah and her husband, John, spend five
months each year on Lone Pine Island, a
quarter-acre granite outcrop where they
built a cottage. Lone Pine is one of the
Thousand Islands, a group of more than
1,700 small islands in the St. Lawrence
River just east of Lake Ontario.
Farther east of Lone Pine is the slightly
bigger Long Rock Island, where Nancy
Hammond and her husband, Robert R.
Price, Jr., rent a converted skiffhouse.
In joining together on their book project,
the two sisters recaptured favorite
memories from their childhoods in the
Thousand Islands.
“I’ve been returning to the river every
summer for 65 years-missing only a fewsince I was six months old,” says Mara.
“The islands, the river, are my roots, where
family gathers. I understand the dangers:
hidden rocks in the water, navigating at
night, watching out for the looming hulls of
freighters in the total darkness. I love the
color of the blue water, how it sparkles on a
clear day when the wind is from the north.
Children who grow up here never forget it.”
After graduating from St. John’s and
marrying plastic and reconstructive
surgeon John Mara in 1972, Mara pursued
various career ventures. “You come out of
St. John’s a true liberal artist,” she said.
She worked in London at IBM, United
Kingdom, and for Eastman Kodak in
Rochester. She adored her stint as manag
ing editor of a weekly newspaper in New
York, writing the editorials and a regular
column, managing stringers, laying out the
paper, and taking the photos. When John
retired in 1992, Mara became the family
bread-winner, for several years commuting
by boat to her job as administrator of the
Antique and Classic Boat Society.
Abandoning the mainstream for a quiet
life with time for reading, organic garden
ing, and watching sunsets was a careful
choice the Maras made, one Sarah links to
her Johnnie days. “Without St. John’s in my
background, I doubt we would have had the
courage to make such a dramatic decision,
or even have known about the pleasure of
such a life.”
Along the way, the Maras built their cot
tage on Lone Pine, which Sarah’s parents
had owned, and where she and her family
camped out in tents during the summer.
On the island, self-reliance is key. “Lifting
all the time lifting! Bringing over filled
water jugs, groceries, boxes of books, and
taking away garbage. Slippery docks in the
autumn, slippery rocks after rain. No septic
system, no public sewer system.”
{The College- St. John’s College • Fall 2005 }
Sisters Nancy Hammond (r.) and
Sarah Mara (A61) brought talents and
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES TOGETHER IN A SNUG
Little Island.
Fog can trap the Maras on their island or
keep them from returning from the
mainland. They stock up on drinking water,
canned tuna, and dried fruit to sustain
them through bad weather. Once the
couple awoke to a violent storm that shook
the house. “Trees were cracking in half all
around us,” Mara recalls. “Waves slammed
against the shore. The storm cut a swath
through the islands, uprooting trees and
swamping boats. We lost electricity for
five days.”
Ultimately, the benefits far outweigh the
difficulties. “The island is a refuge,” Mara
says. “We can be boisterous, we can be
quiet. We can be idle or industrious. It’s
snug in the cottage, especially with a fire in
the woodstove when it’s cold or rainy.”
continued on pg.
�{Alumni Notes}
37
Policy. He previously served as
executive director of The Philan
thropy Roundtable. Prior to that,
O’Gara was a drug policy analyst
for the Senate Committee on the
Judiciary. Earlier in his career,
he served as a foreign policy
specialist, advising the adminis
trator of the Drug Enforcement
Administration at the
Department of Justice.
Jennifer Lee (SF) has career
news: “My family and I have
been back in the states four years
now. I am currently teaching
third- and fourth-graders at a
small progressive school where
the money is poor but the
teaching is good.”
1990
1989
Matthew Shane Heimann was born to Dave (A87) and Jeannie
Heimann on July 4, 2005. He weighed 7LBS. 14 oz and was 19 3/4"
LONG. He joins his brothers Jake, 4 z/2, and Noah, 2.
parenting, mountaineering, and
skiing. I’ve come to appreciate
the many natural attractions and
cultural events in New England.
Best to all.”
1988
James F. X. O’Gara (A) was
nominated by President George
W. Bush to be deputy director for
Supply Reduction at the Office of
National Drug Control Policy.
He currently serves as special
assistant to the Director of the
Office of National Drug Control
continued
Each October, when the days grow colder
and the river becomes dark and foreboding,
the Maras move to a home in Kingston,
Ontario. When they return to Lone Pine
each summer, they must reclaim the island
from a boisterous gaggle of geese.
Though she had never written fiction
before, Hammond’s encouragement-and
her offer to illustrate the project-were all
Mara needed to take on the project.
Summer on the St. Lawrence River was
translated into words and images, and two
children, Richard and Kate, were nudged
into life, complete with cheerful curiosity,
thin limbs, and blowing flaxen hair. In the
story, the two children are placed with their
duffle bags aboard Captain Harry’s water
taxi to be ferried over to Lone Pine Island
for a vacation visit with their aunt and
uncle.
Kilian Garvey (SF) recently
Nathaniel Herz (A) writes:
“Alexander Shulman Herz was
born on Feb. 27, 2004, and he’s
a beautiful baby! He joins
Charlotte Shulman Herz, born
on May 7, 2002-the apple of her
Daddy’s eye. Contact Nathaniel
at NH237@columbia.edu
Refactoring to Patterns, a soft
ware industry bestseller by Josh
Kerievsky (SF) is now in its
third printing and has been
translated into eight languages.
The adventures and mishaps of Richard
and Kate spring not only from memories of
Sarah and Nancy, but also from those of the
real-life Richard, Nancy’s son, now 33, who
loved the island life throughout his child
hood. (Mara named the young heroine of
her book after Richard’s wife, Kate.)
Along with illustrating the book, her
sister provided editorial advice and encour
agement, says Mara. “Nancy was my editor,
my sounding board, my critic. She insisted
on the ‘real’ thing-forcing me to dig deeper
into my memory. We exchanged memories.
I would ask her, ‘do you remember, did
Captain Harry wear a hat? What sound do
katydids make? How do waves sound hitting
the rocks?’ ”
From this partnership grew a handsome
book in which the children’s activities are
wholly familiar: learning to sleep in a tent,
operate a boat, shop for provisions, and
outrace a storm. The book captures a
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
finished his dissertation
(“Cerebral Laterality of False
Memories”) and received a Ph.D.
in cognitive neuropsychology
from the University of Toledo.
“I now do research in social
neuroscience and evolutionary
psychology at the University
of New England in Biddeford,
Maine.”
Alexandra Edelglass
Stockwell (A) writes, “Gabriel
Thomas joined our family June
9, 2005. He was born at home,
weighing ii lbs., 8 oz. Eight-yearold sister Josephine, 6-year-old
brother Christopher, and his
continued on pg. gg
timeless child’s world, an endless summer
vacation. Hammond’s bright drawings of
rock-strewn islands, herons, and barefoot
children bring the island world to life. A
longtime friend of the college, Hammond is
well known for her artwork, which for years
she sold in a shop near the campus.
Sarah Mara and Nancy Hammond return
to St. John’s in November to speak at the
the Caritas Society’s Meet the Authors pro
gram, an annual fund-raiser in Annapolis
that also features journalists Steve and
Cokie Roberts. A Snug Little Island can be
ordered from Pink Granite Press, PO Box
231, Thousand Island Park, N.Y. 136920231; or on Nancy Hammond’s Web site:
www.nancyhammondeditions.com.
—Nancy Zimmerman and Rosemary Harty
�38
{Alumni Profile}
High-Flying Ideals
Kira Zielinski, SFgs, Finds Fuljillment in the Skies
BY Erica Naone (A05)
helicopter, to Kira Zielins
ki, is “a bionic extension
of your body.” The energy
of the machine, which can
stay still in the air or make
tiny motions there, “courses through you and you have to feel
it.” Accidents happen, she says,
“when it starts flying you; when it
is a machine.”
Zielinski learned to fly helicop
ters during a seven-year stint in
the Marine Corps, which she
joined the day after graduating
from St. John’s in Santa Fe in 1995.
Now a civilian, she pilots Chopper
4 over the streets of Washington,
D.C., toting a WRC news crew
covering traffic, weather, and
breaking news.
Her passage from the academic
life at St. John’s to the technical
and physical training she received
to become a pilot makes sense in
light of what matters most to her
in the Great Conversation. A ques
tion she keeps at the forefront of
her thoughts and actions is, “What
is life?” At St. John’s, Zielinski
says, “it was a training in think
ing-in honing your being to the
maximum extent, in living
consciously and not as an animal.”
In the search for a conscious
life, Zielinski has tested herself
mind and body. She loved St. John’s for
its academic intensity, and she chose the
Marines in part for the rigorous physical
training. She has bicycled through the
Pyrenees. She has immersed herself in the
history of the Crusades, fascinated by “the
sheer corporeal nature of it all.” What
becomes clear about Zielinski after an hour
of conversation is that when she says she is
“not a cubicle girl,” she means that down
to her core. She is not satisfied with being
told the answer, with hearing about how
something works, or with anything besides
going out and trying it for herself.
It was this that led her to St. John’s in
the first place. Zielinski had always been
interested in classics. When a guidance
counselor at her Massachusetts boarding
school told her about St. John’s, she was
attracted to an educational philosophy
that required students to “read the books
themselves, to go out and chart the sun
with the Ptolemy stone, not just sit in the
classroom.”
Not A CUBICLE girl; Kira Zielinski (SF95)
ONE DAY HOPES TO FLY FOR HUMANITARIAN AID
MISSIONS ACROSS THE GLOBE.
Her decision to join the Marines
shocked some of her classmates, but
Zielinski was driven by a need to get out
from behind a desk and explore “the other
side of the Greek ideal.” The transition
was a bit of a jolt. After four years of
discussing honor and virtue in seminar,
she was handed a book on her first day in
the Marines that had definitions for both.
She respected the definitions she found
there, but the contrast in her environment
was clear.
Zielinski looks back on her time in the
military with respect and gratitude, but
she is also relieved to have returned to
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
civilian life. The only female in a squad of
13 men, Zielinski felt a pressure far differ
ent from what she had felt as the only
female lab assistant in Santa Fe. In the
military, she found herself in a situation
where “anyone with a sensitive soul was
picked on extra hard.” It was
emotionally difficult to be the
image of a Marine at all times, to
be always reserving a private
place in herself apart from her
identity as a marine.
As a marine, however, her peers
trusted her to act with a high
level of honor and integrity. She
enjoyed the respect she was able
to earn as an officer and misses
the understanding that “your
word is your honor.” Sharp
analysis of great historical battles
appealed to her, as did getting out
from behind a desk and learning
to fly.
After her discharge, and some
time off to travel, Zielinksi wound
up in Tucson, Ariz. The military
taught her how to fly, but she
lacked the flying time most
civilian employers require and
had a hard time finding a job in
aviation. “I was flipping through
the Yellow Pages, looking up ‘H’
for helicopter and making phone
calls,” she says.
Her persistence paid off. She
embarked on a series of helicopter odd
jobs, such as firefighting and flying short
sightseeing tours over the Hoover Dam
and the Grand Ganyon. Along the way,
she gained the flight hours she needed
and made connections in the aviation
community.
Earlier this year, Zielinski began
studying for a master’s degree in aviation.
Within a few years, she’d like to volunteer
for an organization like Doctors Without
Borders. As someone who has always
sought to be like Tomb Raider’s Lara Groft,
she wants to apply her technical skill, sense
of adventure, and passion for languages
and learning-always keeping in mind both
sides of the Greek Ideal.
�{AlumniNotes}
father, Rodd, and I are happy
and grateful. Our holistic medi
cine practice is growing,
although I will be at home work
ing on the domestic arts as best I
can for an undetermined (long)
time.”
bi-gay, reproductive, and other
civil rights and liberties, Nancy
will be going on the market next
year as a constitutional law
professor.
1994
1991
Akiba Covitz and Miriam
Spectre (both A) announce the
birth of their daughter, Lilah
Spectre-Covitz, born in May
2004. She joins her brother,
Abe, who turned four in May
2005. Look for us in Virginia
cars with the plates “SJC91”
and “FERRIES.”
1992
Brad Hodge (SF) was married
in November 2003. “My wife and
I are in the process of adopting a
child from Guatemala. We are
very excited! I see Luke Warren
(SF) often, since he also lives in
the D.C. area.”
1993
Nancy Marcus (A) has received
her LL.M, (second law degree)
from the LFniversity of Wisconsin
Law School and is now pursuing
her SJD (third law degree) as a
dissertator at UW. Her thesis
article, entitled “Reyond Romer
and Lawrence: The Right to
Privacy Comes out of the
Closet,” is due to be published
by the Columbia Journal of
Gender and Law in the Winter
2005/2006 issue. Aboard
member of the National Lesbian
and Gay Law Foundation and an
activist and lecturer on lesbian-
39
1996
Marybeth Guerrieri (A)
Brian and Lea Brock (Brian,
completed her master’s degree
in Transpersonal Studies at the
Institute of Transpersonal
Psychology in Palo Alto, Calif.
SF, ECoi, and Lea, A98, ECoi)
write: “We are conducting an
experiment. Can one exist in the
world with his notions of the
Good, True, and Beautiful?
We are renting a farm near
Madison, where Brian is starting
Sawhorse Recording Studio and
playing with a band called
Goodbye Kitty. Lea is training
her new horse and exploring
equestrian and Socratic summer
possibilities. The fact that she
received a teaching license
having admitted to exclusively
engaging in Socratic Seminar
with students and to never
teaching to the standards-is a
bit of evidence suggesting an
affirmative answer to the
aforementioned question.
David M. Brooks (SF) has
Hanan Mikuasz (AGI) writes of
relocated to Florida and has
successfully opened his own
private practice specializing in
adult mental health. He is
looking forward to start training
to become a psychoanalyst in the
next year.
a recent homecoming: “I took
my live-year-old son in July to see
the Pyramids and the land where
I grew up. The Pyramids haven’t
changed much, but just about
everything else did. Congestion,
people, and noise are every
where. Still, I was comforted by
the defiance of some aspects of
Egyptian culture to change and
by my son’s smiles.”
“I just wanted to share the news
of my second baby boy, Owen
Louis, born April 29, 2005,”
writes Phoebe Merrin Carter
(SF). “Brother Dylan has just
turned 4.1 am (still) the Youth
Services Manager for the Weber
County Library System in
Ogden, Utah. My husband is an
adjunct professor of history at
the university here, and we have
this great old house, 86 years
old! Greetings to everyone with
whom I have lost touch! ”
1995
1997
J. Stephen Pearson (A) recently
completed required coursework
for a Ph.D. in comparative
literature: “My main foci are
American minority literature
and the history of Christian
devotional literature,” he writes.
“For my dissertation, I plan to
explore the similarities between
minority experiences and
religious experiences.”
Cameron T. Graham (SF) is a
specialist with Army Intelligence
at the Defense Language
Institute, Monterey, Calif. While
stationed at Fort Jackson, S.C.,
earlier, he won the award for a
perfect score in the physical
program. He’s been serving with
the Army for about 15 months.
Nice to Reminisce
Jennifer Swaim (A) is pleased to
announce the receipt of her doc
toral degree in psychology. She
specializes in health psychology
and is currently a research fellow
at a private hospital in north
eastern Ohio. She would enjoy
hearing from old friends at
jcswaim@gmail.com.
ara Giles (SF95) writes: “My husband, John,
and I are enjoying Nebraska’s good life and all
it has to offer. He continues to be a biology
professor and conduct research in parasitology
at one of the colleges, while I am finishing up
a master’s degree at the university in anthropol
ogy, specifically on Mexican immigration and cultural divers
I work with numerous people with connections to St. John’s
all have wonderful things to say about SJC, so it is nice to
reminisce with them. In other news, our daughter, Sofia, turned
10 this year and won top honors at the Nebraska Summer Music
Olympics in piano, and her fourth-grade standardized testing
demonstrated that her academic and scholastic skills are at an
advanced high school level. We have a lot to be proud of in her,
but mostly that she is a wonderful person. If anyone is in
Nebraska and wants to meet at the Coffee House in Lincoln,
drop me a line atyehkatah@yahoo.com.”
M
{The College. 5t. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
�{Alumni Notes}
40
Heidi Jacot (A) is starting
Yale Divinity’s School’s Master
of Arts in Religion program
this fall.
1998
Alexandra D.E. Boozer (A)
married Daniel Giguere of
Windham, Maine, on September
19, 2004. She has even more
news: “Last year I received my
doctorate in clinical psychology
from George Washington
University, with a specialization
in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
We are currently living in
Holmes Beach, Fla., where I am
working toward obtaining
Florida psychology licensure. I
would love to hear from any old
friends or to link with other
students/alumni with an interest
in practicing psychology. I can
be reached by email at: alexandra
_FL@hotmail.com”
writes Brendan Bullock (A).
“Currently I’m putting work
together for my first solo show at
Santa Fe’s Price Dewey Gallery
ATHY GarcIa (SF03) was pleased to be accepted
in
November. I’ve also launched
to the Graduate School of Education and Infor
my
own Web site, which I hope
mation Sciences at UCLA. This program will,
people will visit: www.brendanat the end of two years, award her a master’s in
bullock.com. I would love to
education and full credentialing so that she will
hear from any and all by e-mail. I
be able to teach mathematics to high-schoolers
can
be contacted through my
in L.A.’s inner city. (“In the city, city of Compton.”) If
anyone
Webtosite or at brendanbullock@
is strolling through Southern California, please feel free
hotmail.com.”
contact her at PHI_PI_E@hotmail.com.
Straight Into Compton
C
her husband, Rob, are excited to
announce the arrival of their hrst
child, Evangeline Jane, on
November 16 at 5:33 a.m. “At
birth she weighed 7 pounds,
3.5 ounces, and was 19 inches
long. Her name means ‘Good
news, God is gracious,’ and
that’s exactly how we feel about
her; she is good news and God
was so gracious to give us this
precious baby. She really is the
perfect baby. She has always
slept for at least four hours
straight at night, and she hardly
ever fusses.”
Lorna Johnson (SF) has
recently started her own
business in executive IT
recruitment. She has also been
accepted as an associate director
at The Artistic Home, an equity
theater in Chicago, and as a
faculty member at the Artistic
Home’s training studio, which
teaches Meisner method acting
to professional actors. She also
recently became a member of
the Board of Directors. Her
husband, Aaron Johnson,
continues to play piano and
organ professionally.
Nathan August Scheifer (SF)
reports: “Computer engineering
degree completed in December
2004; new house closed in April
3005; my son was born on June
3, 3005; and I passed the Patent
Bar Exam on July 18, 3005.”
Justin Kray (SF) writes:
Jackie (Cavim) Travis (A) and
1999
HonorMoody (SF) writes,
“I finally graduated from library
school and am currently
cataloging 17th-, i8th- and 19thcentury culinary works at the
Schlesinger Library and looking
for an archival processing gig.”
2000
John M Hunter (AGI) and his
wife, Lisa, announce the birth of
George Brooks Hunter on March
30, 3005. Baby Brooks joins his
brother, Jeb, 18 months.
Andre Rodriguez (SFGI)
earned his law degree in May
3004. He became a licensed
attorney in Texas in November
3004. He is currently teaching
nth-grade U.S. history and
coaching soccer while working
part time as a lawyer.
Flame Schoeder (SF) and
Jeremiah Roper are intensely
proud to announce the birth of
their daughter, Sasha Ryan
Roper. She was born on May 38,
3005, at 11:59 a ™., after 58
hours of labor. She weighed in at
6 pounds, 7.7 ounces, and was
30 inches long. Writes Flame,
“She brings new meaning to the
word ‘wonderful.’ ”
“Shortly after arriving in
Brooklyn, N.Y., it came to my
attention that Mike DiMezza
(SFGI98) was living in the
neighborhood. Although
reminiscing about books is great
fun, the new bond between our
lives has been restoring his
beautiful brownstone and
discussing urban planning.
Thom Barry (SF03), a mutual
friend of ours, is also an integral
part of our new bond. Tom and I
worked together doing carpentry
in Marblehead, Mass,, and in
exchange he introduced me to
some great urban thinkers and
new wave music. Now, I am in
graduate school at the Pratt
Institute for urban design while
he has become a foreman in
Northampton, Mass. Synergies
abound!”
Suzannah Simmons (SF) is
entering her second year of law
school at Florida Coastal School
of Law in Jacksonville, Fla., with
an eye toward practicing real
estate and animal law. “My best
to SJC!” she writes.
Patrick B. Reed (AGI)
celebrated the birth of his first
child, daughter Lucille (Lucy),
on his 36th birthday in June.
2001
“Though I never attended the
campus here, I ended up finding
my way out to Santa Fe, where
I’ve been working in the art
world and pursuing my photog
raphy for the past three years,”
{The Colleges?. John's College ■ Fall 2005 }
Floye Heather Wells (A)
writes, “Just finished my
master’s degree in ecology at
Colorado State University in
Fort Collins and got a job teach
ing middle-school and high
school science out on the plains
of Colorado at the Prairie
School. Drop me a line if you
ever find yourself out this way:
floyewells@yahoo.com
�{Alumni Notes}
What’s Keeping You?
T
here’s an online community waiting for you to join.
About 2,300 alumni have registered to join the
St. John’s College Online Community since the
college launched the site last year. That leaves a
lot of Johnnies out there who have yet to register
and update their information (name, address.
occupation, e-mail). Your information can only be viewed by
other registered alumni, registration is fast and easy, and you
can choose which information you want available for other
alumni to view. To register, go to vww.stjohnscollege.edu and
click on Alumni.
Beyond the usual directory information, the site offers you a
place to show off pictures, set up buddy lists for friends you
frequently e-mail, and do
some online networking.
Later this fall, the college’s
Career Services offices plan
to begin building an online
resource for career net
working, connecting men
tors, and posting resumes.
Registered or not,
alumni can use the site to
learn about chapter
happenings, college events,
and St. John’s news.
Questions or suggestions?
Contact the Web master in
Annapolis: victoria. smith@
sjca.edu.
Classics in Santa Fe. It was
Oedipal, except I wanted to kill
my brothers and they wanted to
sleep with the tutor. One
brother, as well as Martha and
Ray Wallace, asked about the
lovely Ms. Schoux. Where are
you Ms. Schoux?
I spend my time between
live/work offices in NYC’s
Gramercy Park (where I lead a
Johnnie-style great books group)
and L.A.’s Hancock Park (where
I lead a great films group-you
have to go slow with Angelenos).
I can be reached at
Jim@Monk.com.”
2003
Meg Eisenhauer Barry and
Thom Barry (both SF) are
thrilled to welcome a daughter.
Aviva Thomas Barry was born at
home June 4 in Northampton,
Mass. “We can be reached at
m_eisenhauer@mac.com in case
you find yourself in western
Massachusetts!”
infantry platoon leader,” writes
Robert Morris (SF). “As an
infantry officer, I am being
afforded the opportunity to
attend some additional schooling
before I report to my unit. Right
now I am in Ranger School. It is
very challenging and extremely
arduous. I am about to begin my
third attempt to pass. The army
has taught me a lot. The army’s
lessons are not always fun, but
they are lessons that I never
would have learned from reading
and reflection. Later this year I
go to 2nd Brigade of the loth
Mountain Division at Fort
Drum, N.Y. I have a lot of
difficult work ahead of me, but it
ought to be rewarding in propor
tion to the challenge.”
Last summer Justine Stewart
(SF) finished up a year in
St. Cloud, Minn., where she has
been working as an EKG
technician. She was next off to
California for a two-month stint
as an outdoor instructor“leading groups of students on
camping trips and living out of
my car and a tent. I am nervous
and very excited.”
Rebecca A. Dwyer (SF) kept it
Jim Crotty (SFGI), is still
2002
Amelia Adams (A) writes,
“After returning from a year in
Zambia working with an NGO on
HIV prevention and treatment, I
have started at the School of
Medicine at Washington
University in St. Louis.”
John Cottrell (A) completed
law school at the University of
Richmond in December 2004
and passed the bar exam in April
2005. He is practicing law in
Alexandria, Va.
co-president of MONK, “the
company I co-founded several
kalpas ago with fellow “Monk,”
Michael Lane, as the publishing
arm of our travel quarterly
Monk: The Mobile Magazine,
www.Monk.com. MONK has
since birthed several offspring,
including seven-year-old Monk
Media, www.MonkMedia.net, a
cute and bubbly web and graphic
design firm; four-year-old Monk
Host, www.MonkHost.net, a hitech tomboy; and recent addition
Monk TV, which produces and
distributes the inflammatory
Crotty Farm Report, www.crottyfarmreport.com, among other
channels.
This past July I attended a
Freud seminar with my two older
brothers at St. John’s Summer
short: “I’m in China!”
What’s Up?
Michael Kopp (EC) and Jana
Phillips (SFGI) were married
May 22, 2005, in Sedona, Ariz.
After teaching in France for a
year, they are now living in
Denver, where Michael edits
children’s textbooks, and Jana is
a prison librarian. Michael has
also been accepted for graduate
study in an English Ph.D.
program to begin fall 2006.
The College wants to hear from
you. Call us, write us, e-mail us.
Let your classmates know what
you’re doing. The next issue
will be published in January;
deadline for the alumni notes
section is November 30.
Classnotes posted to the col
lege’s online community will
also be included in The College.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine
St. John’s College, P.O. Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404;
rosemary.harty@sjca.edu
2004
“Since graduation, I have been
commissioned in the Army as a
2nd lieutenant and trained as an
{The College -Sf. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
In Santa Fe:
The College Magazine
St. John’s College
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599;
alumni@sjcsf.edu
�{AlumniProfile}
Just a Good Ol’ Boy
Chris Nelson, SFgg, Gives Dukes Fans the Scoop
Wi Jason A. Bielagus, SF98
t sounds like a prank,
but it’s the God-honest
truth: Chris Nelson
(SF99), entered a
competition to become
the vice president of
the CMT Dukes of Hazzard
Institute. To get the job, he
had to demonstrate fanatical
devotion to the 1980s televi
sion series and draw up a
marketing plan. (One idea:
sponsor a General Lee dog
sled in the Iditarod). He beat
out 1,900 other applicants,
debuting as the new VP at the
DukesFest in Bristol, Tenn.,
last June.
And-this is the part that
really sounds made-up-he will
earn $100,000 for a year of
watching Dukes ofHazzard
re-runs, writing a daily blog
about the episodes, and making periodic
public appearances in his official Dukes of
Hazzard Institute orange blazer.
The “Institute” is funded by CMT, a
country-music cable television channel
that airs reruns of the Dukes ofHazzard.
For those who missed it the first time
around, the show featured cousins Bo and
Luke Duke driving down the dirt roads of
Hazzard County in an orange ’69 Dodge
Charger, the General Lee. Their fetching
cousin, Daisy Duke, inspired a new fashion
trend in her cutoff jeans, and bumbling
sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane-firmly under the
wing of corrupt Boss Hog-was regularly
foiled by the clever Dukes.
To promote the series and the network,
CMT announced a nationwide search for a
vice president. Nelson, an aspiring
singer/songwriter who was then working
as a part-time temp, caught an ad for the
job on CMT and went after it wholeheart
edly, creating a Web site outlining his
campaign platform, sending telegrams to
the network’s executives, and writing
reams of Duke-inspired musings.
In his application. Nelson wrote: “The
Dukes ofHazzard is a wonderful program
because it delivers comedy, action, and a
Chris Nelson (SFgg) meets
THE FAMOUS GENERAL LeE.
I
positive message wrapped up in lovable
characters in a mythical place. It brings
joy to people’s lives one hour at a time. It is
my thought that the Dukes of Hazzard
Institute should mirror the series in this
way and strive to bring fun and enjoyment
to the legions of fans all over the world and
make some new ones in the process.”
Nelson was one of three people chosen
to be flown down to Nashville for intensive
interviews, round-table discussions, oncamera interviews, and a photo shoot with
the General Lee.
As VP of the Dukes of Hazzard Institute,
Nelson is tasked with watching the Dukes
ofHazzard on CMT and summarizing
each episode in his blog. In addition to
publishing a blog. Nelson also makes media
appearances promoting the institute.
For one such appearance. Nelson
appeared on the nationally broadcast Fox
and Friends in the Morning. Nelson came
on just after Ken Mehlman, chairman for
the Republican National Committee, and
just before singer Harry Connick, Jr. “That
gives you an idea of where my celebrity is
in the pecking order,” Nelson says.
On a day free from media appearances.
Nelson awakes in his Manhattan apartment
sometime before noon. After having some
{The College- St. John's College ■ Fall 2005 }
Nescafe while reading the
papers. Nelson does his
calisthenics, then settles
down to work on his blog.
Next, he might give a few
phone interviews and write
treatments extolling the
virtue of the Dukes. Evenings
are free for socializing.
Asked about the contribu
tion that the Dukes have
made to Western thought.
Nelson offers, “Part of the
reason why the show’s so
popular, why it’s so great, is
that you have muscle cars
driving around on dirt roads
crashing into each other, foxy
ladies in skimpy outfits, lots of explosions,
good fighting, great slapstick comedy, and
justice delivered in just under an hour.
That’s good, old-fashioned American
escapism.”
A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Nelson
was “pretty directionless” after graduating
from St. John’s. “I had heard some people
were making money in this thing called
‘the Internet.’ So I moved to Austin, Texas,
began selling bandwidth for an Internet
company, and eventually ended up in
investor relations.”
After the tech bubble burst. Nelson
spent many lost months in Mexico, Cuba,
South America, and Colorado. The next
few years found him working a string of
jobs including hotel clerk, graphic
designer, and food writer.
Although his contract with CMT is only
for a year. Nelson hopes his experience will
open doors for him. “I’ve been talking a
little bit about being the president of the
My Two Dads Institute or the chief
financial officer of the Starsky & Hutch
Foundation,” he says,
Lookfor Nelson’s blog at
WWW. cmtdukesinstitute. com
�{Obituaries}
Santa Fe tutor Ralph
SwENTZEL, CIRCA 1969.
Rai,I’ll SwEMZELL, HA95
Santa Fe Tutor
Retired Santa Fe tutor Ralph Swentzell died
on June 16, 3005, following a lengthy strug
gle with prostate cancer.
Mr. Swentzell was born in East Paterson,
N.J., and attended Highlands University in
Las Vegas, N.M., where he earned his
degree in psychology in 1963. He joined the
faculty in Santa Fe in 1966 and retired in
3003. He was one of the most innovative
members of the faculty, having a profound
impact on the laboratory and music
tutorials, and contributing to an ongoing
dialogue concerning the language tutorials.
His extensive handwritten notes on all
subjects of the laboratory, mathematics,
and music tutorials were his means of
making the subjects completely his own,
including, for instance, a resolution of the
rod-and-slot paradox of special relativity.
He created a computer-based Chinese
language lexicon for the college’s Eastern
Classics program, and his computer
modeling of non-Euclidean geometry
yielded fascinating insights.
He was also adept in class discussions.
Above all, his persistent curiosity, spirit of
inquiry, and good-willed enthusiasm
inspired colleagues and students alike.
A memorial service for Mr. Swentzell is
planned for early fall in Santa Fe. The
College will publish selections from the
memorial service in an upcoming edition.
John Sarkissian, HA03
Annapolis Tutor
by Gerald Bunker
John Ludwig Sarkissian, a long-time tutor
at St. John’s College, died July ii, 3005, at
his home in Annapolis. He was born in
Chicago, eldest son of Eleisha and Araxie,
both natives of Istanbul
who fled the TurkishArmenian troubles. In
1939, he began his studies
in biology at the University
of Chicago, hut left the uni
versity in 1943 to enlist in
the Army. For the rest of his
life he delighted in regaling
his friends and family with
war stories, which may have
improved in the retelling.
Some facts are that he
initially trained at Princeton as a military
administrator in Italy. After the fall of Italy,
he shipped out to the Pacific as an
intelligence operative, was stationed in
New Guinea, and was part of the retaking
of Manila.
Resuming his academic career, he
received his B.S. from the University of
Illinois in 1946 and his M.A. in 1948, He
was an instructor in biological and physical
sciences at the University of Chicago, the
Pestalozzi-Froebel Teachers College, the
University of Indiana, and the University
of Illinois.
The high point of his career as a research
biologist came when he was awarded a
Fulbright Scholarship to the Institute of
Human Heredity at the University of
Bologna, Italy. In 1963, he came to
St. John’s, where he established a
sophomore program that taught biological
evolution through dissection.
Mr. Sarkissian was an ardent traveler and
naturalist. To the end of his life he remained
a voracious reader. After his retirement in
1984 he kept active in all his favorite activi
ties, becoming a docent at the Smithsonian
Institution and a lifelong student of world
history, Russian, French, Greek, and Latin.
He is survived by a daughter, Julia Oaten;
his former wife, Flor Bunker; and a brother,
Vincent.
Jerome LaPides, HA91
Board of Visitors and Governors
Jerome LaPides, who served on the
college’s Board of Visitors and Governors
for nearly two decades, died on May ii,
3005, at his home in Santa Fe. As a board
member from 1973-1991, LaPides was a
generous supporter of the college, having
{The College. St. /oZira’5 College ■ Fall 2005 }
43
established with his father, Joseph, the
LaPides Scholarship Fund in 1979. He also
played a key role in overseeing construction
of Santa Fe’s Meem Library.
Born in Baltimore, Mr. LaPides graduated
from the Naval Academy in 1951 and later
served as an Air Force captain stationed in
Japan. In 1956 he entered the corporate
world, joining the Pepsi-Cola Bottling
Company in Baltimore and opening the
company’s Annapolis location.
His extensive community service included
serving on the board of the Anne Arundel
Medical Center, and as a trustee of Key
School and Severn School. He was president
of the LaPides Foundation, which has
supported many different causes over
the years, including animal welfare,
community development, environment and
conservation, fine arts, higher education,
women’s issues, and child welfare.
In 1988, Mr. LaPides retired as the
president and owner of Pepsi-Cola Bottling
Company in Annapolis. After moving to
New Mexico, he and his wife. Allene,
opened the LaPides Gallery.
In addition to his wife, his survivors
include his son, John M. LaPides; his
daughters Ann L. Misenheimer and Jane R.
LaPides; and five grandchildren.
Admiral James Stockdale
Board of Visitors and Governors
Retired Vice Admiral James Stockdale,
who died in July at his home in California,
served on the college’s Board of Visitors
and Governors from 1981 to 1987. Admiral
Stockdale, a Navy pilot who endured seven
years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam,
became one of the most highly decorated
officers in the history of the Navy. He
received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s
highest tribute for valor in action.
Admiral Stockdale was born in Illinois and
graduated from the Naval Academy in 1947.
The Navy sent him to Stanford University
for a master’s degree, and there he became
enamored of the Greek stoic philosophers.
Admiral Stockdale served on the USS
Oriskany and flew 301 missions before he
was shot down in September 1965. Shackled
in leg irons for two years, and in solitary
confinement for four, he endured torture
and degradation at the Hoa Lo Prison, but
would not give in to his captors.
continued on nextpage
�44
continuedfromp. 40
Admiral Stockdale and his fellow prisoners
were freed in 1973. He served as president of
the Naval War College, where he also taught
philosophy and developed an ethics course,
and later was president of The Citadel in
South Carolina. In 1981, he joined the
Hoover Institution, where he was a senior
research fellow.
Erik S. Kristensen, AGI99
Navy Seal
by Andrew Ranson, AGIoo
Erik Kristensen, 33, a lieutenant command
er in the Navy SEALs, died June 18, 2005,
in Afghanistan. He was leading a rescue
mission when his Chinook helicopter was
shot down by Afghan insurgents.
Erik and I were fast friends the minute we
met as classmates in the Graduate Institute
in January 2000.1 had just moved to
Annapolis from San Diego; Erik, a 1995
graduate of the Naval Academy, had lived
there off and on for years and was teaching
English at the academy. We spent hours
upon hours talking about everything we
could think of that winter, and during the
spring, our conversations continued as we
played Frisbee on front campus. Erik lived
the examined life that Socrates spoke of; he
was the best example of self-reflection
I’ve known.
Now that he’s gone, those of us who were
close to him have been examining our own
lives, noting how he influenced us. He had
many gifts; he was a terrific writer and had a
fantastic sense of humor. Always the life of
the party, Erik stuffed a centerpiece into his
shirt pocket and then hammed it up for the
camera at my wedding. He was smart and
creative, laid-back and intense, curious
and fearless.
Since he had grown up a Navy brat and
lived all over the world, he was great at
staying in touch with people over great
distances and long stretches of time. He had
a keen appreciation for the little things in
Ufe: the perfect fish taco, good music from
all genres, a well-made movie. He was a
wonderful listener, making you feel that
what you said really mattered. Erik rarely
complained about anything; he seemed to
see the bright side of life at every moment.
One of his most endearing qualities was that
he was such a dependable and supportive
friend. His generosity, selflessness, and
compassion for others were unparalleled.
{Obituaries}
Erik was sent to SEAL training midway
through his studies and had planned to
return in a few years, when his Navy
commitment was finished. He loved the
contemplative life and discussing the
Program so much, I had difficulty under
standing how he could join a Special Forces
team where action and danger dominated
over contemplation. I realized only after he
died that he truly believed that his duty was
''Those who delivered
his eulogies spoke ofhis
insatiable thirstfor life,
his compassion, and his
desire to connect with
those he loved.
Andrew Ranson (AGIoo)
to make sure that in potentially volatile
situations, there was someone in a position
to make decisions who had contemplated
the larger truths in life. He knew that others
depended on him for just this.
At his funeral, more than 2,000 friends
and family members filled the Naval
Academy Chapel. Those who delivered his
eulogies spoke of his insatiable thirst for
life, his compassion, and his desire to
connect with those he loved. He was laid to
rest with full honors on Hospital Point at the
Naval Academy.
Since Socrates often came up in our
conversations, I thought it fitting that this
passage from The Republic leapt off the page
at me recently. I picked the book up, think
ing of Erik and how our friendship was
cemented over discussions of it. Erik would
blush at being compared to Socrates’
description of a philosopher, but I think
those who knew Erik will find it quite appro
priate. Socrates asks Glaucon, “But the one
who is willing to taste every kind of learning
with gusto, and who approaches learning
with delight, and is insatiable, we shall justly
assert to be a philosopher, won’t we?”
(475d).
Farewell to a great man, a true Johnnie,
and a wonderful friend.
{The College. 5f. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
John David Hindle-Hardt
AGI96
A generous nature and giving spirit is
reflected in an essay John David HindleHardt (AGI96) wrote on hospitality: “The
Greek word Philoxenia means love of
strangers. We are apt to forget in our culture
that hospitality is not something we extend
to friends or neighbors, but rather to the
stranger, the outcast.. .The Latin word
(hospes, hospitis) specifies the particular
shape this love takes: the offering of a place
to those who have none. . .”
Mr. Hindle-Hardt, who was killed in an
automobile accident on September 9, 2004,
in Portland, Maine, had dedicated much of
his life to helping those who might be
considered outcasts of society. He believed
that all people deserve to be treated with
dignity and respect, and this shone through
in his life’s work and in his friendships.
At the time of his death, he was employed
by Creative Work Systems, an organization
that sought to enable persons with cogni
tive, physical, and psychiatric handicaps to
gain self-sufficiency. Prior to working in
Maine, Mr. Hindle-Hardt had worked as a
volunteer for a residential community for
the handicapped in Toronto. For three
years, he was residential director of a men’s
home in Richmond, Va. In addition to
working as a teacher for several years, he
also tutored Asian immigrants at a refugee
and resettlement center and taught adults
how to read in Annapolis. In these settings,
“his compassion and kindness and giving
nature found true expression,” according to
his friend Joel Werkema.
Those who knew him describe Mr. HindleHardt as someone with a great sense of
humor and a serious purpose in fife. “When
you were with him, he made you feel as
though you were the center of attention,”
said Paula Swann (AGI97). “And if he wasn’t
making you laugh, he would involve you in
deep and meaningful conversations about
academics, friendship, and life.”
“It was common knowledge that amidst all
of J.D.’s hilarious stories and jokes there
would be these sensitive and supportive
words of encouragement right when
someone needed them most,” said Jennifer
Stanbro (AGI96).
Hardt is survived by his mother, Martha
Hindle-Hardt Rice; his stepfather, Donald
N. Rice; and his sister, Meg Hardt.
�{Obituaries}
Tevtna Benedict, SF73
Tevina Benedict, 54, was killed in a fall on
May 7, aoof), while hiking on the Oregon
coast. Born Decemher a, 1950, in Chicago,
Ill., she became a passionate advocate for
social justice after graduating from
St. John’s. She worked on the New Mexico
Review and participated in the founding of
La Clinica de la Gente.
After moving to Portland in 1980,
Ms. Benedict served on the staff of the
Governor’s Commission of the Uninsured,
on the board of Neighborcare Health Clinic,
and for Oregon Health Decisions. She
staffed the group that created the first
Oregon Advance Directive/living will.
After moving to Eugene in 1989 she worked
at the Oregon Department of Health Policy
and with the Oregon Health Action
Campaign to support and expand the found
ing of what is now the Oregon Health Plan.
She later earned a master’s degree in public
health policy from the University of Oregon.
Her survivors include her husband, Dave
Barta, and daughter. Erica Benedict-Barta.
45
Ellen Becker, SFGI87
Ellen “Ellie” Becker died at her home in
Santa Fe on June ii, 2005, at age 54, from
cancer. She leaves behind her husband, Ron
Hale, former director of Career Planning
and part-time tutor on the Santa Fe cam
pus; sons Jesse, 27, and Luke, 24; and two
grandchildren. Ms. Becker worked as an
editor, journalist, and writer, including
stints at Mothering Magazine, the Museum
of New Mexico, and at newspapers in Santa
Fe and Albuquerque. In addition to her
master’s degree from St. John’s, she had
received a bachelor’s degree from Goddard
College in Plainfield, Vt.
internship and residency in internal
medicine at Union Memorial Hospital.
From 1966 to 1968, he served in the Navy.
He joined Anne Arundel Medical Center in
Annapolis in 1970 and maintained a
private practice.
“He was one of the most eminent cardiol
ogists in the area, a Vietnam war veteran,
and a wonderful person all around,” said
Annapolis tutor Tom May.
Dr. Brimhall is survived by his wife, two
children, and two grandchildren.
Also noted:
Robert Gamble, AGI97, April 2005
Rodney Brimhall, AGI89
William C. Hill, class of 1946, December
Dr. Rodney Lee Brimhall, an internist and
director of a cardiac rehabilitation program
at, died July 30 in Annapolis. He was 69.
In the midst of his successful medical
career. Dr. Brimhall enrolled in the
Graduate Institute program at St. John’s.
Dr. Brimhall was born and raised in
Jacksonville, Fla. He earned his medical
degree from the University of Florida
College of Medicine and completed an
2004
George Lyon, Jr. class of 1940, January
2005
Robert Scott Massey, SF70, July 2004
Henry Clay Smith, class of 1934, July 15,
2005
John B. Traci y III, A83, May 2005
A Poem for Michael Slakey
An obituary for Michael Slakey
(A85), who died of cancer
earlier this year in France, ran
in the Spring 2005 edition of
The College magazine. We add
this remembrance of Mr. Slakey,
taken from the many tributes
from the classmates who spoke
at a memorial service for him
earlier this year. It was written
by Eric Vesper (A86).
The Old Rooms
— For Fred and Lesley Israel
When Slakey and I correspond
in the high language, I address
him as S. Croft and he calls me Leopold.
Shut off from one another like rooms,
passing letters as if through cracks
under doors - we take them like wafers,
transubstantiate tokens of the land
near St. Michael’s where we learned to
laugh
at ourselves. Once I found Slakey in town
Michael Slakey with his
CHILDREN
slowly rising to meet the swift
tide.
Perhaps the fabric of old
novels weaves
into the present in ways we
don’t see yet,
asleep in a graveyard on the long stone
of S. Croft Register. We know a priest
who hunts. He curses us for driving in the
fields
because geese won’t land when they see
signs
of humans. It is easier to ignore the
clergy,
for geese and humans, when they don’t
have guns.
the turn of the binding
opening a place
where we see ourselves folded into the
page.
We no longer have need of prophecy.
We have given names to the friends in our
story,
poured late libations on still embers
and watched the sun rise through the
shelves
By day, we plug our ears with electric
guitars.
At night we open them to the music
in the fire, the slow burn a symphony
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
of old rooms where we rest, where even
dust,
floating in the light, or pulled into
corners,
proves forces are at work against us.
�46
{Alumni Association News}
From the Alumni
Association
President
Dear Alumni,
As a student, I
didn’t want to be
bothered with the
administrative life
of the college. I
cared whether
tutors were focused
on their work, facili
ties were clean and
safe, lab equipment maintained, and food
and mail were delivered on time. Like most
adolescents, I missed the connections
between these concerns and the focus on
truth and beauty that filled my time with
friends and books in conversation. My
mother’s checkbook and the college’s
income statement seemed irrelevant then.
Today I understand-for myself and my
clients-how administrative decisions
directly affect real experience every day.
Today, alumni are engaged in all facets
of the administrative life of the college.
Chris Nelson (SF70) is president of the
Annapolis campus. Both deans are alumni:
Michael Dink (A75) in Annapolis and
David Levine (A67) in Santa Fe. Each of
these alumni and many other faculty and
staff have committed their professional
lives to the college’s academic and institu
tional well-being.
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowforinformation
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
505-275-9012
BALTIMORE
Deborah Cohen
410-472-9158
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin Gammon
410-280-0958
BOSTON
Diane Cowan
617-666-4381
dianecowan@rcn.com
AUSTIN
John Strange
210-392-5506
Bev Angel
512-926-7808
CHICAGO
Rick Lightburn
lightburn@
earthlink.net
Others integrate concerns for the col
lege with their diverse professional and
personal lives as volunteers in a variety of
college programs. Philanthropia is an all
alumni organization that supports the
fund-raising activities of the college. The
Alumni Association Board of Directors,
though an independently chartered organi
zation, works with the college to connect
more alumni, more often, and more richly.
Local Alumni Association chapters, hosts
for prospective receptions, active network
ers, and class leaders for homecomings and
special events-all make significant contri
butions of time and attention to be sure the
college is well cared for and healthy.
Another important role for alumni in
the college is on the Board of Visitors and
Governors (BVG). This body is responsible
for governance and oversight of all aspects
of the college. As you can imagine, alumni
are engaged in many ways in leadership of
this body. The chair of the board is an
alumna, Sharon Bishop (A65). Of the total
60 members of the BVG, currently 36 are
alumni of the graduate or undergraduate
programs, and seven are honorary alumni
who have been recognized by the Alumni
Association for their contributions to the
St. John’s community.
Nine of these BVG members are
nominated and elected by the Alumni
Association to serve as contributing
participants in decisions that affect the
good of the college and its broader
community of alumni. In July, three new
Alumni Association members joined the
board. Michael MacDonald (SF76) has a
professional life in the record production
DALLAS/FORT
WORTH
Suzanne Lexy
Bartlette
817-721-9112
DENVER/BOULDER
Lee Katherine
Goldstein
720-746-1496
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Carol Freeman
612-822-3216
business. He lives in New York City. Sanjay
Poovadan (SF83) lives in El Prado, N. M.,
where he farms and maintains a business
consulting practice. Joel Ard (Ag5) is an
attorney in Washington, D.C. These three
join Susan Allen (SFGI89), Robert Bienenfeld (SF80), Evan Dudik (A72), Bill Fant
(A7g), Thomas Stern (SF68), and Steve
Thomas (SF74) as Alumni Association
representatives to the Board of Visitors
and Governors. Our thanks to each of
them and thanks to all alumni who commit
portions of their busy lives to build and
maintain the institutional strength of
St. John’s College.
If you are interested in exploring ways
you can be more involved, please contact
me (geoyang@hsdinstitute.org or 763-7837206) or Annapolis alumni director Jo Ann
Mattson (jamattson@sjca.edu, or 410-2956ga6).
Don’t forget the wonderful online com
munity that keeps you in touch with the
college and with alumni around the globe.
As of today, 2,295 alumni have joined the
community. That is almost a third of our
goal-the 9,000 alumni of St. John’s
College. To register, to encourage others,
or to use the community to contact your
friends, go to; www.stjohnscollege.edu
and click on Alumni.
I look forward to seeing you online or at
our next homecoming celebration!
Sincerely,
Glenda H. Eoyang (SF76)
President
St. John’s College Alumni Association
NEW YORK
Daniel Van Doren
914-949-6811
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
619-423-4972
NORTHERN CALIF.
Deborah Farrell
415-731-8804
SANTA FE
Richard Cowles
505-986-1814
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
5^15-465-0^44
SEATTLE
Amina Brandt
206-465^781
PITTSBURGH
Joanne Murray
724-325-4151
SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Elizabeth Eastman
562-426-1934
PORTLAND
Lake Perriguey
lake@law-works .com
{The College -Sf. John’s College ■ Fall aooj }
TRIANGLE CIRCLE
(NC)
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Deborah Papier
202-387-4520
drpapier®
starpower.net
WESTERN NEW
ENGLAND
Julia Ward
413-648-0064
�{Alumni Association News}
In South Florida, a Multicultural
Group Savors Conversation
A certain half-truth makes
it easy for Pedro J. Mar
tinez-Fraga (A84) to get a
table at a favorite Miami
restaurant. “If I call and
use the name Pedro Mar
tinez, they think it’s the
pro baseball player, and I
always get a table,’” he
says. But a thirst for deep
er truths inspired Mar
tinez-Fraga, a partner with
an international law firm,
to form the South Florida
alumni group last year.
The South Florida
group is one of several
informal groups around
the country bringing
Johnnies together for sem
inars and social gather
ings. Some just want to
keep the conversations
going; others hope to eventually form an
official Alumni Association chapter. A little
more than a year ago, Pittsburgh Johnnies
gained their charter as an official chapter.
In Miami, the group has been united by
its “collective love of conversation,” says
Martinez-Fraga. Jon Sackson (A69) co
founded the group and helps coordinate
events, which so far have focused on revisit
ing Program books. At one of their meetings
last spring, Annapolis tutor Nick Maistrellis
and his wife, Judy (A71), joined the chapter
for a seminar on the last four books of
Plato’s Republic.
“We savor the process of getting
together, talking, laughing, and sharing a
time and space where our only concerns
are limited to questioning and discussing
those issues that have long fascinated the
authors of the great and greatest books
written in our Western tradition,” says
Martinez-Fraga.
He describes the group as a “vivid multi
cultural, professional tapestry” including
lawyers, bankers, teachers, an architect,
and a self-employed information processor.
Some travel from as far as 50 miles away to
attend gatherings. The group votes on what
to read, when to meet, which tutors to
invite to visit.“That the books can bring us
together despite the assaults of everyday
life, domestic demands, professional
47
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
All alumni have automatic membership in
the St. John’s College Alumni Association.
The Alumni Association is an independent
organization, with a Board of Directors elect
ed by and from the alumni body. The board
meets four times a year, twice on each campus,
to plan programs and coordinate the affairs of
the association. This newsletter within
The College magazine is sponsored by the
Alumni Association and communicates
association news and events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary -Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-the-Word-Out Action Team Chair-
Linda Stabler-Talty, SFGI76
Mailing address - Alumni Association,
St. John’s College, P.O Box 2800, Annapolis,
MD 21404, or tt6o Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599.
The Miami alumni reading Group stemmed
FROM Pedro Martinez-Fraga’s Dedication
TO St. John’s.
exigencies, and personal preferences, in
itself is a source of marvelous wonder,” says
Martinez-Fraga.
These Johnnies’ devotion to the college
extends to the famous St. John’s seminar
chair. At their initiative, the bookstore in
Annapolis worked with the chair’s manufac
turer, E.A. Clore and Sons, to make a chair
with the St. John’s logo available for pur
chase. “Like the Johnnies themselves, these
chairs are so similar, yet so individual and
unique,” Martinez-Fraga says.
Here’s a look at two other alumni reading
groups and what brings them together:
Western New England
Peter Weis (SF84), a librarian at Northfield
Mount Hermon School, hosts conversations
at a seminar-style table in his home in
Montague, Mass.:
“We’re low key, yet serious at the same
time. We meet on Sunday afternoons every
two months. There has always been convivi
ality and food but we focus on the discus
sion. Speaking for myself, it’s nice to get
together for a serious conversation about
what on the surface is a neutral topic, not
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Fall aooj }
politics, not current events. When we dis
cussed the Constitution it was amazing how
long the conversations stayed away from
current events-it was really about the
document. We don’t stick exclusively to
Program readings. The first seminar, about
two years ago, was on Flannery O’Connor.”
Salt Lake City
Erin Hanlon (SF03), a graduate student in
biology at the University of Utah, launched
the Salt Lake City alumni group last year:
“I formed the alumni group because I
really missed St. John’s and my fellow John
nies. It was a year since I had graduated and
I had just started graduate school at a large
research university. The difference between
the university and St. John’s was so great
that I felt a great deal of culture shock. I
missed being more active about my educa
tion. . .Our first seminar was on Martin
Luther Kings Jr.’s birthday, and so we read
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Some
thing in that made us think of the funeral
oration of Pericles. From there we went to
Job, then the Myth ofSisyphus by Camus.
Our next seminar is going to be
on The Dream ofa Ridiculous Man by
Dostoevski. Occasionally the readings and
seminars are more social. Robert Sacks led
our last seminar and his visit inspired a bit
more socializing.
�48
{St. John’sForever}
Room for
Improvement
he college issues
no formal grade
report today
(students can ask
the Registrar for
their grades), but
in 1873, the parents of prep
students at St. John’s received a
bi-monthly grade report. This
featured a “Scale of Merit as
applied to Conduct and Studies”
that started with “excellent” (5)
and went to “blameworthy” (o).
On the back was this printed
exhortation from James M. Gar
nett, principal; “I beg leave to
call attention to the accompany
ing Tabular Statement, in which
you will find a Report of the sev
eral studies pursued by your Son
(or Ward) during the last two
months in this institution and
also of his proficiency and stand
ing in each separate study. The
Scale of Merit explains the nota
tion employed. All marks falling
below 21/2 are meant to signify
that his deficiency is so serious
as to call for animadversion,
deserving to be more or less
emphatic in proportion as his
grade approximates more or less
nearly to o.”
Grades were earned through a
student’s “daily recitations”
along with written examinations
held at the end of the term. A
student whose recitations and
examinations “evince an inca
pacity on his part” to pursue the
studies of his class could face being
knocked back a grade.
This report issued to Hopewell H. Bar
roll of the second prep class on April 26,
1873, shows good grades for arithmetic,
history, English grammar, and modern
geography. Garnett added a personal
remark: “Doing well, but room for
improvement in Latin.” It’s possible that
T
Barroll-later to become a prominent
Chestertown, M<L, lawyer-received a
similar report for his son, L. Wethered
Barroll, a member of the class of 1907.
Garnett was president of St. John’s from
1870-1880; he later went on to become a
professor at the University of Virginia.
{The College- St. John’s College . Fall 2005 }
H.H. Barroll’s report card shows no
“Blameworthy” grade.
�{Alumni Events Calendar}
Windy City Shindig
umni in
Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco
have had the opportunity to attend a
special alumni gathering featuring
Christopher Nelson, president of the
Annapolis campus, and Michael Peters,
president in Santa Fe. Now it’s
Chicago’s turn.
Chicago-area alumni are invited to the
“Evening of Conversation” on Tuesday,
Nov. 15, at the Standard Cluh, 320 South
Plymouth Court. The event has a simple
format: socializing begins at 6 p.m. with
beer, wine, and hors d’oeuvres. At 7:15,
i
the presidents provide an overview of the 9
college’s academic and financial status,
talk about plans for the future Capital
Campaign at the college, answer questions,
and visit with alumni. The event ends at
about 9 p.m., but Johnnies have been
known to gather in small groups and keep
the conversation going.
The event is free of charge. For more
information, or to RSVP, call Gina Lee
in the Annapolis Advancement office at
410-295-5557 or e-mail gina.lee@sjca.edu.
More events are planned in other
for 2006.
Matthew Reiter (sFoa) and
Katherine Greco (sFoa) were among
THE ALUMNI WHO TURNED OUT FOR A
GATHERING IN PHILADELPHIA.
Santa Fe Summer Alumni Week
July
aoo6
Santa Fe Homecoming
Julya8-3O, aoo6
nd
Homecoming in Santa Fe. This year,
a special dinner for all alumni, part of the
college’s upcoming Capital Campaign,
launches the weekend, with picnics,
seminars, and parties continuing through
the weekend.
Annapolis Homecoming
Sept. 29-Oct.i, 2006.
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Fall 2005 }
For information on events, contact:
Jo Ann Mattson
Office of Alumni Activities, Annapolis
410-626-2531
alumni@sjca.edu
Marnelli Hamilton
Office of Alumni and Parent Activities,
Santa Fe
505-984-6103
alumni@sicsf.edu
�Periodicals
SIJOHN’S COLLEGE
Postage Paid
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
Published
by the
Communications Office
P.O. Box 2800
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
address service requested
»»«»«*»»»«»» DI GIT Q7529
S2SO Pl 15976
ANNl
MS. AMV MCCOHHELL FBftHKLlH
HC 74 BOX 24512
BL PBftBO HM 87529-9540
�
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48
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The College, Fall 2005
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Volume 31, Issue 3 of The College Magazine. Published in Fall 2005.
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Harty, Rosemary (editor)
Dempsey, Patricia
Hartnett, John
Behrens, Jennifer
Bielagus, Jason
Goyette, Barbara
Maguran, Andra
Mattson, Jo Ann
Naone, Erica
Vega, Libby
White, Roseanna
Johnson, David
Pattenroth, Kim
Marmion, Simon
Sullivan, Ezra
Stone, Donald
Eoyang, Glenda H.
The College
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Text
�ON
EINSTEIN
t isn't always easy to get alumni out for a chapter event in the dead of
winter, particularly right after the holidays. So imagine tutor Sam Kuder's
delight when the Annapolis chapter drew about 25 participants to a
Saturday morning seminar he was leading on Einstein a week after
New Year's. Annapolis Johnnies aren't the only ones eager to talk about
Einstein and his special theory of relativity during the centennial of
Einstein's anna mirabilis. Several chapters have seminars planned.
In this issue of The College, tutors and alumni describe working through the
paper as one of the most remarkable experiences they've had at the college-one
that stays with them long after they've moved on to other pursuits.
Who isn't familiar with Einstein's struggles in his early education? Born in 1879
to middle-class German parents Hermann and Pauline Einstein, young Albert
frustrated his parents and teachers. His penchant for daydreaming and dislike of
rote memorization are well known, but popular lore mistakenly brands him as a
poor student. At the Institute ofTechnologyin Zurich, he preferred independent
research to the lecture hall.
When he couldn't find an academic job after graduation, he landed at the Swiss
Patent Office in Bern. His undemanding day job gave him the freedom to think. And
his 1905 paper gave him instant fame-something Einstein accepted graciously, but
would gladly have done without. He was more fond of his violin, his sailboat, and his
work.
His unhappy first marriage to fellow physics student Mil eva Marie ended in
divorce. Einstein later married his cousin Elsa, who proved the cheerful hostess and
efficient helpmate Einstein failed to find in his first marriage. He had two sons by
Marie and a daughter born before their marriage who may have been given up for
adoption. He was fond of Elsa's two daughters, who provided great companionship
in his later years.
A life long pacifist, Einstein nevertheless decried the Nazis' rise to power and the
world's failure to stop Hitler earlier. His famous letter to Roosevelt warning that
Germany was likely building a bomb urged that the U.S. move quickly to develop
atomic weapons. He later regretted this and became a proponent of nuclear
disarmament. He died in Princeton, N.J., in 1955, after insisting that his office
at the Institute for Advanced Studies not be preserved, but made available for
someone else.
In his essay "The World as I See It," published in 1931, Einstein described himself
as a "lone traveler." "The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have
given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and
Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation
with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific
endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me," he wrote.
- Rll
' WINTER
THE
e
0
S!JOHN'S
College
2005
VoLUME 3I, IssuE I
THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI OF ST. JoHN's CoLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS
• SANTA FE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA P'B
(usPs oi8-75o)
is published quarterly by
St. John's College, Annapolis, MD,
and Santa Fe, NM
THE CoLLEGE
Known office of publication:
Communications Office
St. John's College
Box28oo
Annapolis, MD 2I404-28oo
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, MD
POSTMASTER: Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Communications
Office, St. John's College,
Box 28oo, Annapolis, MD
2I404-28oo.
Rosemary Harty, editor
John Hartnett (SF8g),
Santa Fe editor
Jennifer Behrens, art director
Annapolis
410-626-2539
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
Contributors
Sus san Borden (A87)
August Deimel (SFo4)
Barbara Goyette (A73)
Erin Hughey-Comers (Aos)
Carolyn Knapp (SFOI)
Andra Maguran
Jo Ann Mattson (A87)
Natalie Rinn (Aos)
Roxanna Seagraves (SF83)
Christopher Utter (Ao6)
Robin Weiss (SFGI82)
Roseanna White (Ao4)
··· ·· ·· ············· ·· ···· ·· ·· ······ ····
{CONTENTS}
PAGE
12
D E P A R T M E N T S
2
THE CHAIR
A visit to the Clore factory reveals just
what goes into the famous St. John's
chair.
PAGE
14
EINSTEIN AND THE
PROGRAM
8
PAGE
I2
Alumni and tutors say that studying the
I go 5 paper is an exceptional experience
at St. John's.
PAGE
FROM THE BELL TOWERS
A New President in Santa Fe
The Magnificent Seven
MacGyver Meets the Johnnies
Mellon Grant Supports Tutors
Ringing a Bell for the Annual Fund
Reunion Class Leaders
LETTERS
28 THE FACULTY
29 BIBLIOFILE
A co-editor of a new commentary on
Milton, William Moeck (A8o) once
thought Paradise Lost would be too
boring.
20
ATOMIC JoHNNIES
3I ALUMNI NOTES
Los Alamos National Laboratory has
provided some interesting professional
and educational opportunities for these
Johnnies.
PROFILES
30 Linnea Back Klee (A67) works for quality
child care in San Francisco.
33 Documentary filmmaker Alex Shear
HoMECOMING
(SFoo) encounters baseball fever in
Japan.
36 Ross Mackenzie (AGio3) demystifies the
. Naval Academy.
It was all for Homer in Annapolis.
46 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS
PAGE
26
PAGE
I4
48 ST. JOHN ' S FOREVER
PAGE
26
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
ON THE COVER
Albert Einstein
Illustration by David]olznson
�{F
R 0 M
THE
BE L ,L
T
0 wE R
s}
A NEW PRESIDENT IN SANTA FE
St. fohns Finds a Leader at the Council on Foreign Relations
BY JOHN HARTNETT
At first glance, it wouldn't
Along with experience in
appear that St. John's College
administration and international
(goo students on two campuses)
affairs, Peters brings to his new
and the United States Military
position a deep appreciation for
Academy (4 ,000 cadets) have a
the ancient world, rooted in his
great deal in common. But
early life as the son of a military
Michael Peters, a West Point
officeT. His father was stationed
graduate and the new president
in Ankara, Turkey, giving the
of the Santa Fe campus, sees
cmious teen the perfect home
striking similarities ben-vccn
base to explore the great sites
the two institutions.
of the ancient world.
Both colleges are founded on
"My first two years in high
principles and missions, and both
school, I traveled all over
have a clear sense of their own
Turkey,Cyprus,andthe
unique identities. Most imporMediterranean," he says. "It
tant, says Peters, St. John's and
really solidified my interest in
West Point are among the few
history. So many of the classics
colleges still concerned with
we read at St. John's are set in
developing the moral character
places vivid in my memories.
of their students.
I've been to Ephesues, Izmir,
"St. John's and West Point
Iskenderun, Athens, and
both believe you can define what
Cyprus. I remember walking
a virtuous life is and what a
through the Cilician Gate where
person of honor is. Both colleges
Alexander marched his army to
believe that through exploration
meet the Persians. As a teen, it
and thought and interchange a
was an incredible experience."
student can come to understand
Retracing Alexander's route
what it means to be virtuous,
kindled a passion for history
honorable, and a person of
that led Peters to follow in his
integrity," he explains.
own father's footsteps. After
Both approach that goal the
high school, he entered the U.S.
same way: "The instructors at
Military Academy at West Point.
West Point give the cadets a
In 1968, he graduated and was
ALONG WITH MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE, MICHAEL PETERS BRINGS AN
model of what it means to be a
commissioned an officer in the
INTERNATIONAL VIEW TO ST. JoHN ' S COLLEGE.
good officer. Similarly, the
Army, taking command of a
tutors at St. John's give stutank platoon in Vietnam.
After his tour ended, Peters earned a master's in economics
dents a model for learning what it means to be a virtuous person
and a good citizen," Peters says.
from the University ofWashington, then returned to West Point
On November II, 2004, the college's Board ofVisitors and
to teach economics. "At that time every junior had to take the
Governors chose Peters to serve as the sixth president of the
economics course. I had IS instructors including the head of my
college's Santa Fe campus , bringing to a close a 16-month search
department working for me. I was a captain at the time and had a
to replace former president John Balkcom (SFGioo). Peters took
full colonel teaching for me," says Peters.
office January 17, just in time to preside over the January freshAfter teaching at \Vest Point, Peters studied Russian then
man convocation. Prior to joining the college, the retired Army
served as a Soviet military attache at the American embassy in
colonel had served as executive vice president of the Council on
Moscow. Living and working in that city at the height of the Cold
Foreign Relations in New York. A nonpartisan, foreign policyWar was "a true adventure in every sense oftheword," he
oriented membership organization, research center, and publishrecalls. Ronald Reagan had just begun his first term as president,
and U.S. -Soviet relations were rocky.
er, the Council provides programs (over 300 a year) and services
to ;},ooo members around the world and the general public.
It also publishes Foreign Affairs magazine and books on internacontinued on p. 3
tional affairs and foreign policy.
{ THE
CoL L EGE.
St. fohn 's College . Winter 2005
}
{FRoM THE BELL TowERS}
3
entailed managing the research arm of the
Council. His experience supervising
scholars and researchers at the council will
"You could never leave the apartment
make him feel "right at home with the
without coming back with a story," says
faculty and students of St. John's," he says.
Peters. "There was the time I coasted into
Peters had been aware of St. John's
the gas station running on fumes. Even
College for many years . After the executive
getting gas was always an adventure in
search firm contacted him to gauge his
Moscow. There were very few gas
interest in the position, he took a trip to
stations. The ones they did have were almost
Annapolis to visit classes. He was impressed
hidden-impossible to find. Once you found a
by what he saw and heard.
station, you couldn't pay cash-you had to buy
"I sat in on a seminar on Aristotle, then
coupons from the state, give yom coupons to
MICHAEL PE'I'ERS, SANTA FE PRESIDENT
Ptolemy in math tutorial, and a Greek class
the attendant, then wait for the person to set
translating the Meno. The experience really
the pump for the amount of gas you were
convinced me that St. John's was a place I
allowed to buy. In one instance I went to the
window, my car on empty, and one of the coupons I had was torn on would like to be part of. The interaction between students and
tutors, the commitment and enthusiasm of the students, and the
the corner. The woman refused to take it. I kept telling her how
respect that students have for one another, the tutors, and the
badly I needed the gas. I even had the torn corner and offeTed to
books were all incredibly powerful. It convinced me to look
tape it back on, but no matter how I pleaded, she still refused.
seriously at the college and to find a way I could be part of the
Finally I crossed my fingers and coasted off to another station
St. John's community," he says.
that did accept my coupon-even with the tear."
It didn't hurt that in all their travels, Peters and his wife,
PeteTs left Moscow for Berlin, wheTe he wmked as liaison
Eleanor, found Santa Fe and the Southwest to be among the most
officer to the Soviet Army in East Germany, to work as a
beautiful places they have visited. They are particularly keen to
conventional aTms negotiatm in Berlin. Later, during the
attend the acclaimed Santa Fe opera-one of their new homebuildup to the 1991 GulfWar, he led an elite Civil Mfairs
town's many cultural treasures-this summer. "Wherever Eleanor
Battalion in Saudi Arabia. He finished his militaTy career by
and I would go in the world, we tried to take advantage of the
returning to West Point- this time as an administrator.
local operas . In Moscow, for example, we quickly found out it
After retiring from the military with the rank of colonel,
was best to go only to Russian operas. Once you've seen Madame
Peters went to work for the Council on Foreign Relations.
Butteiflyin Russian, you'll never see h again," he says.~
During his nine years at the Council, Peters served as senior vice
pTesident, chief operating of:ficeT, and director of studies, which
(continued)
"The experience
really convinced me
that St. Johns was
a place I would lzke
to bepart if."
MICHAEL P. PETERS
At a Glance
Education: B.S., engineering, United States Military Academy
at West Point; M.A., economics, University ofWas~ington.
Recent Experience: As executive vice pTesident, Council on
Foreign Relations (2002-2004), seTved as the principal deputy
for the council's president in all areas of operations. Directed
the research arm of the council, supervising a staff of IOO,
including 70 research fellows. For seven years (1995-2002),
directed day-to-day operations of the council, including managing a budget of almost $30 million and a staff of over 200.
At West Point: As chief of staff from1992-1995, directed day-today operations of the academy and led a community of over
ro,ooo. Managed a $350 million operating budget. Directed a
strategic review of the academy defining the mission and
purpose of the institution for the 21st century.
{ THE
Co L LEGE .
Military Career: (Ig68-gs) Chief, Conventional Arms
Negotiations: Principal adviser to the Secretary of the
Army and the Chief of Staff, Army, on negotiation and
implementation of treaties to reduce conventional arms
in Europe.
Commander, g6th Civil Mfairs Battalion (Airborne): led
an elite, 200-person, special unit responsible fm working
with local officials and populace in support of U.S. military .
operations. Deployed to Saudi Arabia in the first month of
Operation Desert Shield; coordinated Saudi support for
the lo!-,ristical infrastructure required for the U.S. forces.
Coordinated the initial restoration of government services in
Panama following the removal of Manuel Noriega.
Executive assistant, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff. Soviet Foreign Area Officer.
Assistant professor, United States Military Academy.
Platoon leader, executive officer and Armored Cavalry Troop
commander.
Recent reading: Snow, by Orhan Pamuk, a novel set in Turkey.
St. fohn's College . W in t er 20 0 5
}
�4
GILLIAM HALL
DEDICATION
{FRoM THE BELL TowERS}
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
G 1 l
The newest dormitory on the
Annapolis campus, Gilliam
Hall was formally dedicated in
a ceremony November rr.
Family members ofJames H.
Gilliam Jr., for whom the
building is named, and trustees
of The Hodson Trust, which
provided most of the funding
for the dormitory, attended the
ceremony and toured Gilliam
Hall afterward.
Gilliam was a trustee of
The Hodson Trust and vice
president ofthe Beneficial
Corporation in Wilmington,
Del., until his unexpected
death in the summer of 2003.
An Mrican-American lawyer
and business executive, he was also a respected civic leader and
philanthropist who believed in advancing opportunities for
others, particularly in higher education. To honor Gilliam's
memory, the first seven Mrican-American graduates of the
college attended the ceremony.
Long before he became a Hodson trustee, Gilliam came to
know St. John's through his service as a director of the Beneficial
Corporation. He was chairman of the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute when the foundation gave St. John's its first grant, for
$r million. "He was proud that we received it, and it showed,"
said Christopher Nelson, president of the Annapolis campus .
The college is honored that the new dormitory will bear
Gilliam's name, he added. "I came to admire Jim as someone
who reflected the ideals of our community: he had a talent for
{FRoM THE BELL TowERs}
thinking through problems and LINDA GILLIAM (RIGHT) WITH
CHRISTOPHER NELSON, AND HER
presenting solutions. He was
DAUGHTERS ALEXIS AND LESLIE
humble and generous; he was
someone who had achieved
success in life and felt compelled to share his blessings
with others," Nelson said.
Finn M. W. Caspersen, chairman of The Hodson Trust,
described Gilliam as an individual with attributes that Johnnies
would particularly value. "He embodied good judgment. Even in
difficult situations, he always had the right answers."
Daniel Russell (Aos) had two reasons to thank the Hodson
Trust for its generous support of the college: He lives in Gilliam
Hall and has benefited from a Hodson-funded internship that
allowed him to experience life in a public defender's office last
summer. Russell praised the dorm's spacious common rooms,
the full-size kitchen, and the views of College Creek and the lower
playing field. But he also noted that the addition of the new
dormitory has enhanced the character of the campus.
"What used to be a dark and foreboding back campus has
now become a much more lively area," he said. "Gilliam Hall
has truly been a wonderful addition to the already wonderful
St. John's College."
Gilliam' s widow, Linda Gilliam, also thanked The Hodson
Trust and the St. John's College community for "this marvelous
tribute to Jim."
"With Gilliam Hall, his legacy lives on," she said.
Work is already well under way on the second dormitory, to be
built next to Gilliam Hall and available to students in January
2006. With eight dormitories, the college will be able to house
about 8o percent of its students on campus . ....
FINN CASPERSEN, CHAIRMAN OF
THE HoDsoN TRusT, PAID
Gathered together for the
happy occasion of dedicating
Gilliam Hall, the first seven
Mrican-American graduates
of St. John's College had a lot
of catching up to do. Many
are retired now; some complained of slovving down just a
little. Some are single, some
married with children and
grandchildren.
Perhaps, since they were
already vvilling to attend a college in a segregated city and
suffer the indignities associated
with such injustice, they were
remarkable people when they
arrived here. Whether the
college made a difference or
not, one thing is clear: they are
certainly remarkable people
now. All went on to earn
advanced degrees. In long and
productive careers, they
worked to improve the lives of
others through education,
advocacy, and education.
Groundbrcaker Martin Dyer
(class ohg52) capped a 30-year
career in public service with
another decade as a fairhousipg advocate. He's still
active as a consultant to the
Greater Baltimore Community
Housing Resource Board, and
serves on the college's Board of
Visitors and Governors.
Mtcr earning his master's in
clinical social work, Everett
Wilson (class ofrgs6) also went
into public service: 33 years
helping youth in the state of
Maryland's Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Administration. Now, he
counsels kids struggling with
Attention Deficit Disorder.
Leo L. Simms (class of
rgs6)has retired from the
business career he launched
after earning his MBA from
Boston College, but he
stays active in his church in
Chelmsford, Mass. Mter
graduation , he served in the
Air Force, studied to become a
Russian translator, and worked
for the National Security
Administration during the
height of the Cold War.
It's the retired life, too, for
Joan Cole (class ofr957), the
first African-American woman
community services and
mediation for many years;
she's currently a trainer for the
city's Children's Services
Administration and involved
in community service in
Queens, N.Y.
Jerry Hynson (class ofrgsg)
has more time for genealogy
and research now that he's
retired from a long career in
Baltimore schools, where he
THE PIONEERS : FROM LEFT TO RIGHT (BOTTOM): JOAN COLE, MARTIN
DYER, CAROLYN BAKER BRoWN. TOP: EvERETT WILsoN, LEo
L.
':After the
jirJt semeste~;
I knew this was
theplacefor me. "
}ERRY HYNSON (CLASS OF
I959)
to attend the college. She takes
the trips she has dreamed of
during a long and successful
career in the New York Public
Library system, where as a
regional manager, she supervised 20 branch libraries.
''I'm so glad I can read during
the daytime," she says.
Carolyn Baker Brown (class
ofrgs8) , another New Yorker,
earned her master's in social
work and has worked in
was a teacher, then assistant
principal. His published works
on Mrican-American history in
Maryland have covered topics
including runaway slaves
and freed African-Americans
before the Civil War. Charlotte
King (class ofrgsg) was
another graduate to spend
her life in public service as
a clinical therapist, social
worker, and social services
administrator.
It wasn't easy to be pioneers
in Annapolis before Brown V.
Board ofEducation made
segregated schools illegal.
Martin Dyer came to Annapolis
in rg48 and found the college
much more welcoming than
the greater Annapolis community. The Little Campus Inn on
Maryland Avenue may have
been an off-campus haven for a
TRIBUTE TO JAMES H. GILLIAM JR.
{ THE
CoLL E G F..
St. John 's College . W inter 2005
}
SIMMs,
CHARLOTTE KING, JERRY HYNSON.
{ TH E
CoLL E GE.
St. John 's College. Winter 2005
}
5
generations ofJohnnies, but
Dyer was never able to venture
inside. Wilson remembers he
couldn't try on a suit in a downtown clothing store. And King
was turned away from a church
in downtown Annapolis , told
that she would find a more
welcoming congregation in
another part of town.
"At St. John's, I was just
another student," Dyer says.
"Mter the first semester,"
says Hynson, "I knew this was
the place for me."
Joan Cole, the librarian,
never regretted her decision
to attend the college-even
though she remembers her
name was left out of the
program of a King Williams
Players production for which
she had made costumes. Her
life-long love affair ·with books
was nurtured here, and she
enjoyed the poetry group in
which she participated. "I
found the education I was
expecting here," Cole says.
Each of the graduates has
remained keenly interested in
St. John's after some five
decades away from Annapolis.
Their attachment was demonstrated by their eagerness to
attend the ceremony and
their ongoing support of the
college's efforts to recruit
Mrican-American students,
helping the college find new
ways to tell minority students
about St. John' s. As Wilson
says, many Johnnies find out
about the college through
word-of-mouth, often from a
relative or friend who attended
the college.
"Our job as alumni is to
get the word out-through
churches, sororities, communities, anywaywe can-that
St. John's provides an education for a lifetime," he says.
There may be no better
evidence of that than these
seven alumni .....
-
RosEMARY HARTY
�6
{FROM
THE
BELL
{FRoM
TowERS}
THE
MAcGYVER MEETS
''I'M READY FOR MY
THE JOHNNIES
BELL
CLOSE-UP' MR. ZLOTOFF''
The St.
John~ Story,
Quick CUTS of 4-5 students &
2 tutors as they open books
and begin reading in various
locations: dorm rooms, library,
etc. Possible FLASH CUTS of
author's names, Hegel, Plato,
etc. CUT to villainous East
German spies racing up
McDowell Hall stairs. CUT to
MacGyver hastily assembling
rocket out ofseminar chair,
shoestrings, and Coffee Shop
French fry grease. He shoots up
stairs to Bell Tower, rappels to
safety FADE OUT
It's fun to imagine what the
St. fohn's Story- the campy
student recruitment film made
more than 50 years ago-could
become in the hands of Lee
David Zlotoff (A74), the
creator of the popular TV hero
Angus MacGyver. Zlotoff,
who has enjoyed a career
as a screenwriter and
director since graduation,
volunteered his time and
expertise to write and direct
a promotional video for the
college- the first since a
second movie was produced in
the early Ig6os . After serving
Redux
Natalie Rinn (A05) was enlistedfor a starring role in Lee Zloto.ff's
movie. Here's her account oflife behind the camera.
for many years on the college's
Board ofVisitors and Governors, Zlotoffknewwell how
the college struggles to
explain itself to its various
audiences . Last year, he
proposed a new movie proj ect
to the board. Shooting took
place in Santa Fe and
Annapolis last fall. Now,
Zlotoff is supervising the
editing of more than 70 hours
of videotape into a series of
short videos that the college
can show at college fairs,
use as presentations to
potential donors, and post to
the college's Web site.
Unlike past films that have
tried to re-create seminar
discussions, Zlotoff's project
starts with tutors and students
"Now throw down your book like you just can't make sense of it,"
directed Lee Zlotoff from behind the camera.
So I did. And such was myweek, the week that the St. John's
promotional film crew became extended-stay guests on campus and
I became a movie star.
It all happened by chance. I sat in the Mellon courtyard on a warm
Sunday early in September. I was puzzling over a paper in the senior
lab manual. A young man approached me as I was crinkling my brow
looking over the reading.
"Would you like to do a screen test?" he
asked in a tone that lacked expectation.
Happy to set aside my confusion for a
moment and intrigued by the words ''screen
test," I accepted his offer. I was sat down in
front of a camera and answered questions
posed by Lee. After spurting answers in
response to his questions about "what is it like
to be a Johnnie?" I was told I would be contacted within a week and was sent on my way.
A week later, the call came. It was the young
man, Jared Krause, the producer of the
St. John's promotional film. He wanted to
know ifl would be willing to be the subject of
some scripted material for the film .
Apparently the look of confusion I wore
when Krause first spotted me was the type of
authentic St. John's experience they wanted to
be sure to include in the film . He told me that
they needed images that would create a visual
"I thought this
was something
that needed
doing."
LEE DAVID ZLOTOFF (A?4)
LEE ZLOTOFF CHECKS OUT THE VIEW FROM BEHIND THE CAMERA.
preparing for seminar. The
bells ring, and students walk
into the classroom. It ends ·
when the opening question is
posed. Interspersed in the
basic narrative structure are
interviews with students,
tutors, and alumni; scenes
of campus life and student
activities; and environmental
shots showing off the beauty of
Santa Fe and Annapolis.
All told, Zlotoffhas
already spent months on
the project, which he
describes as a labor oflove.
He ate in the dining halls
and coffee shops on both
campuses, hung out with students in downtown Santa Fe or
Annapolis, and talked with
tutors. He enjoyed reliving his
own student days through the
eyes of a younger generation.
"It was great fun to do
and a remarkably insightful
process," he says. "At
St. John's, everybody does
the same thing and in certain
ways gets the same sort of
thing; in another way it's
TUTOR NICK MAISTRELLIS LED A
MOCK TUTORIAL FOR THE NEW
totally individual. If I had to
title the experience it would
have been 'Chasing the
Paradox.' We tell students
what to study but we don't tell
them what to think. It's a small
school, but in many ways,
there is this amazing diversity
of opinions and suppositions
and life experiences that
people bring to them."
The college has remained
basically the same since his
student days, but Zlotoff
has noticed some changesparticularly in the students.
"When I was at the college,
there were students who were
at St. John's because they didn't
fit in anywhere else . On both
campuses today, I see a great
deal of awareness on the part of
the students about what the
college is about and what
they're looking for," he says.
What took Zlotoff away from
Hollywood to document life at
St. John's? "The college could
go out and hire someone to
produce a video, but they
wouldn't have had a clue how
to do a film about St. John's,"
he explains. "I thought this
was something that needed
doing."-$-
ST. JoHN's VIDEO.
- RosEMARY HARTY
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. John's College. Winter 2 005
}
ST. JoHN's IN
THE NEWS
For those involved in the three
days of shooting on the
Annapolis campus, the Today
Show segment on St. John's
that aired December 30 might
have seemed disappointingafter all there was no mention
of great books, tutors, or seminars. A quick glimpse of tutor
Peter Kalkavage leading a
chorus, a seminar, a Waltz
Party in the Great Hall, shots of
crew on College Creek, and the
story of a "tiny college next to
the Nav~Academy"was over.
But brief as it was, the
story couldn't help but be good
press for the college, and about
6 million viewers watch this
most popular of morning news
programs. Roger Martin,
president of Randolph-Macon
College,hadspentasabbatic~
from his college in Ashland,
Va., to find out what life is like
for freshmen at St. John's. For
the f~l semester, he attended
seminars, rowed with the
crew team, and got to know
Johnnies. A Washington Post
story on Martin's experiences
caught the eye of an NBC
producer, and a crew came to
campus in mid-December.
{ THE
CoLLEGE.
TowERS}
7
story of a student's preparation for seminar: sitting in various places
on campus reading, conversing with fellow students, looking
generally confused while paging through a reading. They thought I
was a good candidate. Because they would capture these images without sound bites, the pressure to perform would be minimal. I agreed
to his request and we arranged a date to do our first filming.
The day arrived. I sat in a bath of synthetic light and rested on the
quad while the production assistant applied makeup to my face. I felt
I was experiencing the clashing of two worlds: The world of St. John's
and the outside world that was straining to look in. Providing a
vvindow of exposure into the Johnnie world felt unnatural at first.
Could we, as props arranged to tell the Johnnie story, really communicate the essence of the Johnny experience? I was told to assume
my look of confusion as I sat in the quad and affectedly discussed a
seminar reading with classmates.
The lights glared, the camera rolled, and then, a funny thing
happened. Under a tent of surveillance and heat, I embodied all too
easily the confusion with which I was so well acquainted. Though the
scenario was staged, my two classmates and I
had so often been genuinely confused throughout our time at St. John's that to reproduce the
appearance of confusion, even in a feigned
discussion, was second nature. I then realized
very little acting would be required in order for
the film to communicate even a taste of true
Johnnie life.
Throughout the next week I spent several
hours with Lee and his crew performing
several takes of"seminar preparation." While
the repetition of takes at times grew tedious,
I was confident the finished product would
convey to the world outside something true
about our microcosmic haven. And I, for one,
was more than happy to reproduce that truth
under the lights. -$-
NATALIE RINN:
Two observations on the
experience: Students can summon a mid-week Waltz Party on
about a hour's notice. And students and tutors assembled for
a mock seminar will have a serious discussion on Thucydides
that will go on long after the
crew packs up ru1d leaves.
NPR's WeekendEdition
~so carried a short story on
Martin's experiences at the
college, as did more than 6o
newspapers. (An. essay by
Martin will run in a later
edition of The College.)
The college continues to
attract attention from a
perplexing assortment of
media. In September,
St. John 's College. Winter 2005
}
A
STAR IS BORN.
Cosmo GIRL! magazine
included St. John's on its
"first-ever guide to the so Best
Colleges for CosmoGirls."
Sometimes national press
attention is just a passing mention, but in the right context,
it's enough to make Johnnies
swell with pride. An Atlantic
Monthly article entitled "Who
Needs Harvard?" an~yzed the
competition to get into top
schools and mentioned St.
John's-in the company of colleges such as Bryn Mawr, Notre
Dame, and Oberlin- as "schools
[that ru:e] not in the top twentyfive, yet may be only slightly
less good than the elites."
Now that's good press.-$-
�8
{FRoM
THE
BELL
}OHNNIES-R-Us
A New Online Community for S]C
Alumni Awaits Members
The college is pleased to unveil a new online community created to
enable alumni to stay better connected to each other and to the
college. The address is: http://alunmi.stjohnscollege.edu. The page
can also be reached by clicking Alumni on the college's home page:
www.stjohnscollege.edu and following the link published there.
Shortly after launching a new Web site last year, the college also
rolled out an online alumni register, but after a rough start never
improved, the application was scrapped. The college chose
YourAlumni. com to provide a broader range of services to alumni.
The site does require registration to take full advantage of its
features, but alumni can still choose to hide all or some of their
personal information from public view. Register as a member, and you
can view the personal listings of all alumni who have also registered.
Alumni can add much more information than has been provided in
the paper directory, last published in 200I. There is space to add
occupation, employer, graduate school, birthday, and other information such as career changes, moves , books read or written, and births of
children. Johnnies can post their own photos and create a gallery of
their children, new home, pets, or vacation to Greece.
{FRoM
TowERs}
Other options:
• Take part in online forums.
• Submit alumni notes online.
• Find out about college news, chapter events, and college-wide
events.
• Search for members by multiple criteria: e.g., campus, class year,
location, occupation. (Please note that results will be limited until
more alumni become members.)
• View class homepages and photo galleries.
Another improvement of the new sile is ease of registration: in most
cases, alumni will not need to wait for approval from the Alumni offices
in Santa Fe or Annapolis- it's automatic. Even when staff intervention
is needed, action can usually be tal(en in one business day. Users can
also select their own passwords.
The college chose a membership-based application in order to
restrict personal information to the alumni community and protect
privacy. However, alumni can still access a slatic directmy-which the
college will update periodically-that lists alumni, class year, city,
and slate. While this information is oflimited use, it's the member
directory that should be genuinely useful in creating a community.
All it needs is members.
Contact the Alumni offices with any concerns or questions about
the site: in Santa Fe, Roxanne Seagraves at 505-984-6Io3 or alumni@sjcsf.edu; in Annappolis, JoAnn Mattson at 4m-626-253I, or
alumni@sjca.edu. -t-
THE
BELL
TowERs}
9
TRAINING DAY
EARLY LAST FALL, 2I NEW RECRUITS-MOST OF THEM FRESHMENCOMPLETED THEIR FIELD CERTIFICATION FOR THE ST. JoHN'S COLLEGE
SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM WITH A SIMULATED SEARCH MISSION ON
DECEPTION PEAK IN THE SANTA FE SKI BASIN. THE NEWBIES MADE THE
CLIMB TO I2,000 FEET AND COMPLETED FIELD NAVIGATION , BACKCOUNTRY
SKILLS, AND SEARCH TECHNIQUE TRAINING TO BECOME FIELD CERTIFIED
AND EARN THE NICKNAME "GROUND-POUNDER." WITH MORE R E CRUITS
THIS YEAR THAN EVER, THE COLLEGE TEAM CAN NOW FIELD MULTIPLE
TEAMS OF VOLUNTEERS. LEFT, ANABELLAASPIRAS (SF08) OF
WASHINGTON D.C., CAN NOW USE A TRIANGULATION MAP AND COMPASS
TO FIND HER WAY IN THE MOUNTAINS. ABOVE, NATE OESCH AND
RYAN GREENDYK (BOTH SF08) DO PUSH-UPS AT THE TRAILHEAD.
{LETTERS}
MISTAKEN NoTIONS
The story of Martin A. Dyer's being recruited
as the first Mrican-American student to
attend St. John's College, ofhis graduating in
I952, and of his now joining the Board ofVisitors and Governors, is inspiring. Mter all,
Brown v. Board ofEducation was not decided
until I954· When I arrived in Annapolis as a
freshman in I956, African-An1ericans were
still second-class citizens in Maryland.
The story of Martin A. Dyer reflects well
on St. John's College, on the students who
persuaded the college to agmit [him], and on
Mr. Dyer himself.
The college's "diversity initiative," by contrast, is consistent neither with the mission of
St. John's College nm·with the achievements
ofMr. Dyer. Defending the "diversity initiative," nonetheless , Mr. Dyer asserts in his
recent letter (Fall2004) that the college
should make a determined effort to recruit
more minority students, "because seminars
and classes achieve greater profundity and
richness when students of different races, ethnicities, and backgrounds bring their life
experiences and individual perspectives into
the conversation."
I must disagTee. To remain politely silent
would show respect neither for the college
nor for Mr. Dyer. To remain silent would trivi-
thing profound that any Asian or Irish-American or Je,vish or African-American student
has said in a St. John' s College seminar that
flowed from his or her "race, ethnicity, or
background." My own fellow-students
advanced our conversations by giving evidence of close reading and good logic. My
fellow-students' racial and ethnic characteristics made no discernible contribution to
their being able to read and think well ...
Mr. Dyer is a remaTkable man, and I am
like other Johnnies in respecting his
achievements and in tiling pride in him
and in his story ... .All men and women are
educable "l.vithout regard to the peculiarities
of their ethnic and racial backgrounds. It is
not our fellow-students' peculiarities that
are the teachers at St. John's College . It is
the great books that are our teachers.
alize the great books program, and it would
patronize Mr. Dyer. St. John's College exists
because, as its motto suggests, boys of all
sorts are equally capable ofbecoming men by
a single device, namely, by means of books
and balances. The Program Telles on books,
not on the alleged broadening effects of a
multi-cultural mi'< of students. Nor was Mr.
Dyer himself recruited to St. John's College in
order to provide his fellow-students with his
race-peculiar contributions. Such a suggestion is repellant. Mr. Dyer was recruited
because the students at St. John's at that time
found the then-prevalent rules of racial discrimination offensive. This was precisely
because they believed that all men are fundamentally the same, not that they are different ...
Mr. Dyer cannot and does not appeal now
to what all men have in common, however. In
departing from that premise, he departs from
the foundation on which St. John's College
stands. Mr. DyeT relies, instead, on the premise that different "life experiences" will somehow enrich the college's seminaTs. Is this an
empirical claim or is it a tautology? I assume
that Mr. Dyer means it to be an empirical
claim. If so, he must present proof. Unfortunately, no proof is possible. Neither Mr. Dyer
nor anyone else can present evidence of any-
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. John's College. Winte r 2005
MARY CAMPBELL GALLAGHER,
CLASS OF Ig6o
The College welcomes letters. Letters may
be edited for clarity and/ or length. Please
address letters to: The College Magazine,
St. John's College, Box 28oo, Annapolis
MD 2I4o4. Letters can also be sent via
e-mail to: rosemary.harty@sjca.edu.
}
MELLON GR.ANT
SuPPORTS FACULTY
A $soo,ooo grant from The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will allow St. John's College to raise faculty salaTies
and provide funds for faculty
study groups on both the
Annapolis and Santa Fe
campuses.
One of the college's most
important strategic goals is
to bring its faculty salaries
closer to the mid-range of
comparable liberal arts colleges. Attracting and retaining exceptional faculty, and
compensating them fairly in
cities with a high cost ofliving, are key to preserving the
college's discussion-based
education program and small
classes.
Almost important as
improved compensation is
the need to provide faculty
{ T HE
C o L L E G E .
with continuing opportunities to deepen their own
knowledge ofthe subjects
they are teaching. Funds for
study groups mll support
faculty members who plan
and organize the material for
the sessions, and compensate
faculty for the additional
time they spend in such
groups . In the past, study
groups at St. John's have
included topics such
as Apollonius' classical
geometry, advanced reading
in ancient Greek, and the
poems ofWallace Stevens.
St. f ohn 's College. Winter 2005
}
"This generous funding
from the Mellon Foundation
for faculty salaries and
faculty development mll
allow the college to demonstrate to our tutors and our
students, as well as to the
college community as a
whole, the value we place
on our faculty and the
commitment we have made
to them for the future,"
said Christopher Nelson,
president of the Annapolis
campus. -t-
�.
'
,--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
IO
{PHILANTHROPIA}
RINGING A BELL FOR
II
{PHILANTHROPIA}
ST. JOHN~ s
REUNION
CLASs LEADERS
Increasing Alumni Involvement
ell-ringers were all over town in Santa Fe last
317 phone calls, and there was a lot of ringing: they raised $2,245
December, but bell ringers of a different kindin gifts and pledges .
without the Santa Claus suits and red kettles-were
Tiffany Simons (SFo6), a phonathon veteran, gave an
also making appeals from Weigle Hall at St. John's
enthusiastic kickoff speech to first-timers . "Make sure alumni
College. Telephones rung in homes across the
understand that gifts of any amount are greatly appreciated," she
country as students participated in a phonathon
said. "If everyone on this list gave only five dollars, we'd be way
for the college's Annual Fund.
above where we were last year in terms of alumni participation."
The Annual Fund helps pay for tutors' salaries, health and
Students say they get a great sense of pride in volunteering for
counseling services, admissions, athletics, and campus
phonathons. Some start out reluctantly, afraid to make a phone
maintenance and, perhaps most vital to the group making the
call to a stranger and reluctant to disturb a quiet evening to ask
phone calls, student financial aid. Thition meets just 70 percent
for money. But when they secure their first gift, they beam .
of the cost of educating students, and about 6o percent of the
Melinda Miller-Klopfer (SFo7) has worked several phonathons,
college's students receive financial aid. A gift of $roo to the
and each time she riffles through the list of potential donors to
Annual Fund has the same effect as $2ooo in the endowment,
find alumni in California. She, too, is from California and taps
since the college draws a s% from the endowthe \Vest Coast connection to establish a personal
ment every year for operating expenses. Gifts to
association with the alumni she calls. Some she
'~
the Annual Fund can be put to immediate use .
has talked to several times, and even though they
Phonathons take place on both campuses
have never met, they catch up like old friends
toward the end ofthe calendar year, and again in
over the phone. Helping the college raise money,
the spring, as the college' s fiscal year comes to a
Miller-Klopfer says, strengthens her appreciation
close June 30. Alumni, students, and staff take
for St. John's.
parents~
tutor~
part in the calling. To heighten the fun and
"After all," Miller-Klopfer says, "my St. John's
foster a little gentle competition at the Santa Fe
education is a gift-from my parents, my tutors,
phonation, held on a blustery December
the financial aid office. An education of any
evening, students had bells next to their phones
variety is a gift, but a St. John's education is a
• -11:
"
0J~ce
that they could ring each time a call yielded a
blessing as well." "'$gift. The group of eight students together made
MELINDA MILLER-KLOPFER ( SF07)
-ANDRA MAGURAN
.. my St. ]ohn:S
education is a
g!ft-from my
my
thefinancial azd
...
RINGING THE BELL:
ZAcK BoRING ( sFo8)
AND MELINDA MILLERKLOPFER ( SF07) HIT THEIR
BELLS TO SIGNAL A "'YES"
IN RESPONSE TO THEIR
ANNUAL FUND CALLS .
{ THE
C o L LEGE .
St. John 's College . Winter 2005
}
ohnnies like talking
with other Johnnies.
They get a chance
to exchange ideas particular to the college,
and they understand
what a genuine conversation is. That's one reason many
alumni accept an invitation
from the Advancement offices
in Annapolis and Santa Fe to
serve as "reunion class leaders," joining Philanthropia
volunteers in making alumni
aware of their role in supporting the college. When your job
is to reconnect with members
of your class to strengthen
their ties to the college, it's
more fun than work .
Tapping everything from
{
nostalgia to technology,
J
reunion class leaders work at
bringing the St. John's experience back
to alumni who have gone on to other
pursuits five to fifty years after leaving
their campuses. "It's so easy to keep in
touch with old Johnnie friends - which is
why it's weird that a lot of them don't
realize how important it is to give back to
the school," says a new reunion class
leader, Anna Christenbury (SFoo).
One of the major goals of the volunteer
effort is to increase awareness of the
importance of the Annual Fund to the
college and increase the number of
alumni who make contributions.
Gifts to the Annual Fund are vital to
supporting the college's day-to-day
operations .
Often, serving as a class leader is the
first time some alumni have had an
opportunity to volunteer for the college.
"We're fortunate to have reunion class
leaders who are exceptionally enthusiastic
and energetic," says Suzanne Thornton,
advancement officer in Santa Fe. "Many
of them find it extremely rewarding to be
able to do something for the college."
A FAMILY AFFAIR:
CAROL PLAUT
RICK
(A79)
(A77)
AND
HAVE BOTH
VOLUNTEERED AS REUNION CLASS
LEADERS.
Is
EMMA PLAUT
(Ao7)
NEXT?
and aware of what's happening
at the college today. "I owe
St. John's a debt of gratitude,"
says Preston, an architect in
Washington, D.C. "It opened
me up to appreciating the
eloquence of an idea, of a
well-reasoned argument. I may
have felt oppressed by it all
while I was there, but now it's
a kind of heaven in my mind-a
golden, shimmering memory."
Christenbury, who has been
composing music since graduating, has more than a few
ideas on how to get members
of her class back to the
college. Assisted by other class members,
she's assembling digital photo albums
and organizing regional get-togethers.
The most important part of her job, she
says, is taking the time to explain to
alumni why it's important for them to
help support the college. Preston says
that the most successful outreach in the
past has been making and selling home
videos from college days.
Other reunion class leaders have sent
handwritten thank-you notes to alumni
who have made a gift, contributed
material for class Web pages, sent out
postcards with senior class photos,
and arranged class gatherings for
Homecoming.
Putting one Johnnie in touch with
another invokes the sense of community
shared at the college, and that's what
reunion class leaders strive to do:
encourage their friends and classmates
to keep giving to ensure that more
students can learn what it is to be a
Johnnie . --$-
"I owe St. ]ohn:S a debt
qfgratitude. It opened
me up to appreciating
the eloquence qf
an zdea~ qfa wellr~asoned argument. "
BRUCE PRESTON, CLASS OF
Ig6s
From Annapolis, volunteers are
recruited for ro reunion classes;
eight classes in Santa Fe have reunion
leaders this year. The college offers
training at Homecoming each year to
inform volunteers about the needs of the
college and to provide an opportunity for
new recruits to talk with past RCLs about
the program.
Bruce Preston, class of rg6s, said he
took on the job because he wanted not
only to reconnect with the college, but
also to become more directly involved
{ THE
CoLLEGE.
St. John 's College. Winter 2005
- RosEANNA WHITE
}
(Ao4)
�{T
I2
H E
C H .A I
{THE CHAIR}
R }
ABOUT A CHAIR
"The chair looksfine everywhere. "
A Visit to the Home ofa St. Johns Icon
BILLY COPPAGE
It's a family business, and has been since
Moses Clore started the company in I83o.
Mter a fire in I930 nearly put the Clorcs
out of business, Mrs. Herbert Hoover-a
summer resident-came through with a
loan. Since then, the operation's been a
strong one, aided by a small college that's
been one of its best customers.
This is the home of the St. John's chairor, to be precise, the three chairs that
have populated the Annapolis campus
since the Igsos and the Santa Fe campus
since its opening in I964. The seminar
chair is actually the Plain Master Chair.
Dorm rooms are furnished with the armless Plain Side Chair, and the dining halls
in Santa Fe and Annapolis are filled with
the Ladder Back Dining Side Chair. While
the factory makes tables and desks and
other furniture, chairs outsell everything
else, says Troy Coppage, a great-grandson
of E.A. Clore and the vice president for
personnel. "You just won't find a more
durable chair," he says, hefting one up
and showing off the construction.
Production is labor-intensive. It starts
in the lumber room, where wood is boiled
for about three hours, then placed in
form s that forc e the wood for the back
frame, arms, and slats into graceful
curves. The slats are fitted into the
grooved holes of the frame, as are the six
rungs for the bottom of the chair, which
connect to the front legs. No nails are
needed, except for one on each arm of the
Master Chair.
Mter the chairs are stained, they're
sent out to local residents who weave the
fiber-rush seats with which Johnnies
become so intimately familiar. Newcomers to this work sometimes surrender in a
few days. "It's hard on the hands," says
Coppage. ''I'd starve ifl had to do it."
The graceful arms of the Master Chair
go on last. Then the chairs are shipped,
most often to individual customers, but
also to big users like boarding schools,
seminaries, and inns.
BY RosEMARY HARTY
fit weren't for the signs leading the way, it would
be easy to miss the E.A. Clore Sons Furniture
Factory in Madison, Va. The view to the west is
of Old Rag Mountain, the most spectacular peak
in the Blue Ridge'- Mountains. Turn off the main
business thoroughfare of this town, follow a
driveway to the bottom of a little hollow, and you'll find
a very small factory where furniture is made the old-fashioned way.
{ T H E
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St. fohn 's College . Winter 2005
}
OPPOSITE: "You CAN USE IT EVERY DAY,
AND IT'LL LAST IOO YEARS," SAYS
TRoY CoPPAGE OF THE ST. JoHN's CHAIR.
AT RIGHT AND BELOW: CHAIRS ARE MADE
THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY IN THIS FAMILYOWNED BUSINESS IN RURAL VIRGINIA, JUST
EAST oF THE BLuE RIDGE MouNTAINS.
ABOUT THREE HOURS OF HAND WORK GO
INTO EACH CLORE CHAIR.
Coppage doesn't know a lot about the
St. John's Program ("It's not a normal
college'?") but he likes seeing the Master
Chair featured on the college's Web site.
That was partly the doing of Mark
Neustadt, a marketing expert who's been
handling the college's recruitment publications. "It's a perfect symbol of how the
school differs from others," he says. "You
learn by sitting and discussing the books.
You learn for yourself."
But is the chair really comfortable?
"Wonderfully comfortable," says tutor
Eva Brann, who should know as well as
anyone. "You sit in them for hours at a
time, so it's good that they have a comfortable'bottom. And of course, they are
very elegant to look at."
And is it really sturdy? Yes, says Bryan
Valentine, the treasurer in Santa Fe,
who is in charge of buying new ones
when the stock of more than I,Ioo out
West needs replenishing. "The rungs
sometimes break out because students
always rest their feet on them, and the
backs have been broken out when they've
tipped over."
Billy Coppage, vice president of the
company, has made several trips to
Annapolis to deliver new or repaired
chairs. On a visit to Colorado a few years
back, he made a detour to Santa Fe just to
see the campus-and his chairs.
{ THE
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St. fohn 's College . Winter 2005
So where does the Clore chair look
better, he's asked? In Santa Fe's
sun-drenched seminar rooms? In
historic McDowell Hall? He smiles
broadly and says in a voice dripping
with Virginia honey, "That chair looks
fine everywhere."-*
For more on Clore, visit the company's
Web site: www. eaclore. com
}
�{THE
{THE
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PROGRAM}
EINSTEIN
COMES TO ST. JOHN'S
BY RosEMARY HARTY
URTIS WILSON (HA83) BROUGHT
Einstein to St. John's College.
That is, during Wilson's
tenure as dean of the college in
the late Igsos, he decided that
Einstein's theory on special
relativity deserved a place in the Program. "The
idea of tackling difficult things was not foreign
to the Program," Wilson recalls. "All sorts of
things could be attempted, but what was important was learning to do them in a way that students feel some accomplishmen\ in them. We
didn't want to bamboozle them by talking over
their heads."
Working with tutor L. Harvey Poe (A52), Wilson wrote a manual designed to lead students
through the math and the major concepts of the
I90S paper. The manual was introduced in I959
and used at least until I964, when Wilson joined
the faculty in Santa Fe and later, the University of
{ T H E
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California. When he returned to Annapolis in
I973, seniors in math tutorial were reading the
paper. "That was an important shift, and I was
really glad to see it. It motivates students- 'this is
really the paper that Einstein wrote? And I'm
reading it?' "
Beautiful, simple, mind-boggling-the words
St. John' s tutors and students use t o describe Einstein's paper-help explain why so many Johnnies
find reading the paper a capstone of their years at
the college. But it was once thought ''too modern, too difficult, too complex" for students,
recalls Santa Fe tutor Peter Pesic, who has taught
the paper about half a dozen times. As a physicist,
of course he was familiar with Einstein's theory,
but he had never read the I90S paper before
coming to the college.
''It was one of the discoveries I made at St.
John's, to encounter Einstein in his own
thoughts, his own words," he says.
S t. fohn's College . ·w inter 2005
}
{ T H E
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St. Jo hn 's College . Winter 20 05 }
IS
�I6
{THE
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{THE
"Special theory is a
little gem. "
patience, even more so than intelligence (though that does
not hurt, of course) . Patience is needed for both running
experiments and figuring out what to make of the end results.
SEEING A PROBLEM
Erin Hanlon (SFo3)
Studying Einstein's paper did not influence my decision to
become a scientist but it has had an impact on how I think
about research questions.
I had been accustomed to reading scientific papers a couple
of times over and thereby getting a general sense of the theory
and any equations. But with the Einstein paper I had to carefully go over each word to make sure I understood what he was
saying-so much of it was counterintuitive to my mind. I
remember staring hard at the board and frequently interrupting
whoever was presenting in order to ask questions so that I could
better shape the mental illustration I was trying to form.
The properties of electrodynamics addressed in the special
theory of relativity do not have a direct effect on my research as
a plant eco-physiologist. But it is the process, the process of
seeing a problem, coming up with possible solutions and
working through them all until one that holds up is found, that
turned out to be my most important gleaning from this paper.
The most important thing that you need to bring to science is
CHALLENGING AssuMPTIONS
Richard Green (SF87)
Probably the most radical thought that comes from the rgos
paper on special relativity is that it forces one to rethink the
concept of simultaneity. Assumptions about simultaneity seem
so basic that it is difficult to be aware that one is making
assumptions. How interesting that one can be unaware of basic
assumptions that are fundamentallyWI·ong.
Richard Green is a chemist workingfor the US. government on
issues related to difenses against chemical warfare agents.
"Ones learning
how to make
another small
step_, then maybe
another step
ifierthat."
C oLLEG E .
S AM KuTLER ( AS4 )
Erin Hanlon is a Ph.D. student in biology at the
University of Utah.
In Annapolis, Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft
"We didn't assume that our students knew
has led the senior math tutorial on Einstein
algebra back then," he explains, ''and the
many times. Although Flaumenhaft's speworst thing we did was waiting until senior
cialized field of study has been political phiyear to teach calculus-too late to use in
losophy, a framed copy of the Einstein-on-asenior laboratory."
bicycle photo hangs prominently in his
To Kutler, Einstein's theory is simply
office, and Flaumenhaft holds this particubeautiful. ''It has two postulates. One is that
lar Program author in high esteem- not just
if light is emitted it doesn't matter if the
for what he thought, but how he thought.
light is coming right at you, going away
Einstein characterized himself as a "slow
from you, or standing still with respect to
thinker" who pondered his theories long
you: it's still going to come at a single speed.
and hard for many years before something
The constancy of the velocity of light is one
emerged. Approaching Einstein in the classprinciple, and the other one is the relativity
HARVEY FLAUMEN HAFT, DEAN
room also requires patience and time.
principle, which is that the laws of physics
"One's learning how to make another small
have to be the same; there's no special frame
step, then maybe another step after that. If
of reference."
we can take just a couple of really good steps
Long b efore he worked out his theory on
toward beginning to understand those fundamentals, one
paper, "Einstein didn't think that Newtonian physics made
starts to think in a way that's much deeper."
any sense," says Kuder. Poincare, Lorentz, and Fitzgerald
"Special theory is a little gem," says Annapolis tutor Sam
were all thinking along the same lines, and Poincare might
Kuder (class of 1954) , because seniors can study it for a
well have beaten Einstein to the punch. But Einstein was
term- one truncated by the writing period and perhaps
the first one to determine that "since we can't find the
aether, there's no need for it."
tainted by the post-essay letdown -and emerge with a fairly
good understanding of the basics. Adding the paper to the
" This is a great blow to empiricists like Francis Bacon
Program was a change that was enabled by the college's
who believe you keep experimenting and experimenting,
earlier decision to stop extensive instruction in algebra.
and you're very slow to theorize. Einstein didn't obey those
{ THE
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St. John 's College · Winter 2005
}
rules. He theorized first and the
experimentation came later. He
loved his theories, and he
believed in them."
Santa Fe tutor Ralph Swentzell
guided seniors in math tutorial
many times in his 38 years with
the college, and led one exceptional preceptorial for Graduate
Institute students taking the
math and science segment.
"Some of them were accountants, and some were English
teachers, and they would all get
up to the board and work through
the equations . It was very exciting-I still get letters from those
students," he says.
Over the years, Swentzell has
assembled a collection of notes
that he uses to supplement the
paper; they're enormously popular with Santa Fe students. One
of his favorite examples is helping students make sen se of Einstein by getting them to figure
how fast they would have to drive
a car to get it to shrink and fall
into one of the cracks on the
road. "They get a big kick out of
that," he says.
Even after all his years of working through the paper 'vith students, Swentzell finds there are
some concepts Einstein presents
that just "hit you in the stomach
sometimes."
"You can see how it's all
derived, but then to imagine
walking around this world of
ours and as you're walking down
Two THINGS
Laine Conway (SFot)
I was, while reading Einstein, fairly obsessed with the
work of Kurt Go del, and so my memories are doubtless somewhat tainted. Still, two things in particular
stand out for me from reading Einstein:
r. The equation "e=mc 2 " is far from being
mysterious and arcane. Instead, it falls neatly,
elegantly, and almost unobtrusively out of the
preceding equations.
2. Einstein later (re) did his calculations for
relativity using only algebra; the original equations
use calculus because Einstein was, at the time he
wrote the paper, studying calculus!
The other thing I recall is how much I liked Einstein.
I'm thinking, here, of a line from The Catcher in the
Rye: "What really kno cks me out is a book that, when
you're all done reading it, you wish the author that
wrote it was a terrific friend of yours, and you could
call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.
Laine Conway; having completed an MFA in
Dramatic Writing, has returned to math (and Marx)
and is studyingfor a Ph.D. in economics.
PROVING THE ABSURD
David] Macdonald (SFg3)
Einstein's 1995 paper on special relativity was certainly one of the highlights of my time at St. John's,
and not just because it seemed to prove the absurdthat our notion of absolute space and time was an illusion. What I found most exciting was the simplicity of
the reasoning behind it. The step-by-step proof, from
the premise (Michaelson and Morley's observation
that the speed oflight is constant) to the conclusion
(that the length of an object varies according to its
speed relative to the observer) , was accessible even to
a college student like me with no more than a basic
knowledge of calculus. I felt like we were proving the
absurd with very simple , rational tools.
David Macdonald is a composer who also teaches
music theory at the Manhattan School ofMusic. .
{ T HE
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St. John 's College. Wi nter 2005
}
the hall, to suddenly think that
what you're calling 'now' means
a different set of events in the
universe than for somebody
who's sitting down in their
office. Everything changes.
That's the part," h e says, and
stops to chuckle, " that's just too
weird. That's when you have to
go home and sleep on it and get
the equations out to guide you."
The Nike adage "just do it" fits
with Peter Pesic's approach to
teaching the paper to Santa Fe
seniors. " Some tutors try to go
backwards, but it's hard to do
that without spending a long
time on review. So we plunge
into it and then take extended
digressions in electricity and
magnetism. We can drag out
magnets and coils and try to
bring to life where Einstein
was starting from with his
questions."
The paper may have seemed a
risky proposition to introduce
four decades ago , but it's well
within the grasp of today's students, says Pesic. "The heart of
his deduction can be done with
nothing except algebra, " he
says, adding that each time he's
taught it, even those students
without great skills in math have
risen to the occasion.
A leisurely pace is needed for
Einstein; up to 30 class sessions
in Santa Fe are invested in the
rgos paper. "That's quite a long
time, and a lot of time is needed
�{THE
PROGRAM}
{THE
"JYe can understand a lot
about geniuses and we can
participate in their thinking.
It;wt talces some zvork. "
GREAT IDEAS
Alciba Covitz (Ag1)
My senior year math tutorial was led by Winfree
Smith. Although I very much liked and respected
Mr. Smith, it was not a very good tutorial. One
student in particular refused to accept any aspect of
non-Euclidean geometry. Mr. Smith was patient at
first, but he was clearly not in the best spirits and, as
the semester progressed, the clash between the two
of them became quite pointed. We came to Einstein
with that as our rather contested and cantankerous
foundation.
At that stage in my college career, I was still on
the fence about what I would do, in terms of what
field to pursue i.n graduate school, try law school, do
a post-bac and try med school, pursue my interest in
journalism, etc. I remember that Einstein's language
seemed to be as much tied to metaphysics as to
physics. His ideas about the actual workings of
the universe and his semi-hidden, semi-mystical
cosmology seemed all jumbled together. I tried to
dis aggregate them, but with little luck. This, as I
recall (together with the mind-breaking steps he
assumed between the lines of his proof), helped to
convince me t11at it was best to pursue what I took
to be the foundations of all pursuits: the manifold
origins of the theoretical underpinnings of great
ideas. I chose to pursue this with the idea of a
constitution in the fully-contested world of politics.
for students to express their perconclusions on electromagnetic
plexity," continues Pesic. "The
radiation led Einstein to wonder
problem that emerges requires
what would happen if a source
having to reconsider the evidence
of electromagnetic radiation-a
of your senses in a very deep way.
light bulb, for example-wereWith Einstein, you don't so much
moving and he stood still. "And
understand it as you get used to it.
of course, you discover it doesn't
It flatly contradicts everything
matter," says Flaumenhaft.
that seems to make common
Einstein wasn't such a good
sense."
mathematician says FlaumenWatching students struggle
haft. "He was imaginative, he
with Einstein, Pesic sees the
took simple notions and mulled
best characteristics of Johnnies
over them, and he revolutionized
revealed in their discussions with
what we know about the world,"
each other. "They are not v-.rilling
he says.
to take some expert's word for it,
There's a strong correlation
instead, they want to see whether
between studying Einstein and
it's really true," he says. "They're
approaching nearly everything
An assistantprofessor ofpolitical science at the
intelligent and open-minded, and
else in the Program, from basic
University ofRichmond, Alciba Covitz teaches courses
they want to understand deeply."
assumptions about human freein constitutional law, civil rights, and ci'villiberties.
The types of questions tutors
dom to the laws of the physical
and students ponder in class can
world. "And that is that you just
be both wondrous and perplexing, agrees
can't'take it for granted-you have to think
Harvey Flaumenhaft. "What does it really
about; you have to examine whether it's
mean to say it's 5 o'clock in two different
really true," Flaumenhaft says.
Einstein~
places? \XThat does a law of nature have to
Curtis Wilson, who as tutor emeritus
look like to be reasonable?"
continues his life-long study of the history of
science, says Einstein's revelations were as
Students have the time to be patient and
shocking to the world as those of Coperniplod through the interesting questions
cus, Newton and Galileo. "There is a
Einstein's paper raises. " One ofthe delights c
relativity, usually called Galilean relativity,
of senior math is that Einstein's paper is
that says that whether the solar system is
short, and we spend a lot of time reading
moving or sitting in one place in absolute
through it line by line. It's so concentrated
space you can't tell, because everything
that what you're doing is unpacking the
goes on exactly the same way whether it's
significance of very simply stated assumpmoving or not. Here was a large branch of
tions that turn everything you've been
science that said you can't locate anything
thinking about the framework of the world
in absolute space, you can only say that
upside down," he says.
PETER PESIC, TUTOR
bodies move relative to one another and if
Senior math tutorial should start with
one body is accelerating instead of moving
a so-minute "quick-and-dirty review" of
uniformly, you can say that it's accelerating
Maxwell's Equations because Nla,"'CWell's
"Wzth
you don't so much
understand zt as
you get used to it.
Itflatly contradicts
everything that
seemJ· to rnake
common sense. "
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. John 's College. W inter 2005
}
PROGRAM}
CuRTIS WILSON (HA83)
with respect to absolute space- in Newtonian physics , acceleration is real, the forces are real.
"That was kind of astonishing to people because they
thought the earth was not moving: 'I walk on this ground, it's
perfectly stable, towers are not toppling, and so forth. That
seemed like firm common sense. That's why Luther spoke of
Copernicus as 'that fool.' The earth moves!-how ridiculous
can you get? But of course Galileo and then Newton show
that everything works exactly the same way, mechanically,
whether we're moving or not."
By the time Einstein started questioning things, most
physicists "were as firmly convinced that there was an aether
as back in Luther's day people were convinced that the earth
stood still."
Einstein was able to think about light moving through the
aether in a different, imaginative way, and that made all the
EINSTEIN IN PoETRY
Anna Perle berg (SFo2)
The most amazing thing about the rgos paper is that it's all
algebra. Einstein could have worked the whole thing in calculus,
but instead he makes it simple-once, that is,,you get the dozen
or so steps he leaves out between equations. And Mr. [Ralph]
Swentzell brought a wide-eyed fascination to the subject (as all
the best teachers do) that made it matter. He was wonderful at
coming up with "real" examples applying these obscure
theories-swimmers, twins in spaceships, trains in tunnels.
One of the things Mr. Swentzell said that stuck with me was
that Einstein needed to be poetized in order to be brought to a
larger audience . Here's my attempt:
II. Relativity
T = cp(w)~(T-w~hc2)-Lorentz transformation for time
"*'
Yet it's all predictable,
and so smooth a ride in the end;
time-dilated by a few tokes
I faced the following:
A train (of course a train) pushing c, trapped
or not trapped in a pre-Freudian tunnel,
depending on passenger or spectator.
And they're both right. They're both right,
goddammit. The sober mind boggles.
But as I spmwled on the floor after two hours of work
and saw the clock's fingers tap out fifteen minuteswell, it's synchronicity, that's what it is.
Everything's happening the same everywhere,
just not at the same time.
And not at the same where, either.
How-much-not-the-same-time,
how-far-from-the-same-where,
.
though, is only algebra. And for mankind
it all goes to zero. Fm electrons or stars, a different story,
haiku or epic; but here on Pascal's fulcrum,
balanced between infinite and infinitesimal,
one feels less wretched than weighting.
It's all about trains,
though their timetables must be thrown out
· thewindow. "Hurryhome,"
I say to an absent lover, "or at least
start traveling at three-quarters c away from me."
I stand on the platform and watch you go by
getting smaller and smaller, more and more part
of my past.
{ TH E
difference. "He tried to think about sitting on the hump of a
wave. Just sitting there at 30o,ooo kilometers-persecond, what would it be like?" Thought experiments like
those led Einstein to new questions. "He gets rid of the
aether and says space and time are what we're talking about."
Even with his many years of studying science as his foundation, Wilson says he can still be "befuddled" by the
subtleties of the paper when he stops to think about them.
But it's not a bad state to be in, he concedes, adding a rationale that seems in a broad sense to cover the whole point of
choosing a college '"rith a program like St. John's in the first
place.
"We can understand a lot about geniuses," Wilson says.
"And we can participate in their thinking. It just takes
some work."
Anna Perle berg is at work on an MFA in poetry at
Wichita State Universi~y.
Co LLEGE .
St. John 's College . Winter 2 0 05
}
�20
{ATOMIC
}OHNNIES}
{ATOMIC
JoHNNIES}
2I
THE NEGOTIATOR
From the Seminar Table to International Relations
BY RosEMARY HARTY
~--
HESE DAYS NICOLE NELSON-JEAN (AGIOO) LIVES
in Tokyo, where she directs the Department of Energy office and serves as Energy
Attache to the U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
In September, she received a Service to
America Medal honoring her for her success-at the age of 28-in negotiating bilateral agreements with Russia that led to
stronger security measures for that
country's nuclear material and weapons stockpile. She's the
mother of an n-year-old daughter, newly wed to a Marine, and
ambitious enough to follow her career in public service as far as it
will take her.
But it all started very modestly with an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory. As a college student, she was assigned
to a project tracking and cleaning up so-called "legacy waste"
from the lab where the atomic bomb was developed in the I940S.
In the lab's early days, materials like cobalt or cesium were
dumped into nearby canyons and carried by rainwater into
surrounding areas, she explains.
"My primary job was to get people to sign access agreements for
the government to come on their property, do a site survey, and if
necessary, clean it up and restore it," she explains. With her clipboard and her I.D. badge, Nelson-Jean was like a young Erin
Brockovich, traveling through the Los Alamos area, visiting
homes, mnches, and Indian reservations. One man, in his gos,
lived in a mobile home on a large tract ofland. "He was extremely
paranoid and wouldn't let anyone on his property," she recalls.
Nelson-Jean visited with him, listened to his stories, and, after
about a month of visits, left with a signed access agreement. "He
used to be the locksmith at Los Alamos during the time of Oppenheimer-he knew it all," she says.
Nelson-Jean had a family connection to Los Alamos. Raised by
her father, who had a military career, she was born in Morocco
and had lived in Spain and Italy. Mter retiring from the military,
her father went to work in nuclear engineering and was at Los
Alamos when Nelson-Jean was in college. Nelson-Jean landed
summer internships, founded the lab 's first student organization,
and was soon recruited by the lab's nuclear nonproliferation area.
Here, her language skills were a plus: She had learned Arabic as a
child and continued studying the language in college. She began
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
translating documents from Arabic to English-and, since some of
the information was determined as classified, earned a security.
clearance before she had a bachelor's degree. Mter graduating
from Grambling State University with her degree in political science, she went to work full time at the laboratory for one of the
defense contractors installed at LANL.
While she was working at the lab, Nelson-Jean applied to the
St. John's Graduate Institute in Santa Fe. "I really wanted to hone
my critical thinking and writing skills," she says. She had just
applied to the GI in Santa Fe when she was asked to take a temporary job working at the Department of Energy headquarters in
Washington, D.C. As a short-term contractor on loan from the
lab , she helped coordinate a nonproliferation exposition on
Capitol Hill. She met then-Secretary of Energy Federico Pefia.
"He asked me if there was anything I ever needed to come and talk
to him about it." Nelson-Jean said she'd love to work for the DOE,
and shortly after returning to New Mexico, she was called for a job
interview in Washington. Mter she joined the EneTgy Department
(still as a contractual employee), she put her graduate degree
plans back on the front burner. "Once I found out there was a
St. John's in Annapolis, it made it a lot easier to move to Washington. I was really sold on the GI," she says.
Status as a full-fledged federal employee came the month before
she graduated from the GI. Nelson-Jean was hired as a project
manager in the DOE's Materials Protection, Control and
Accounting Program. She was assigned to projects geared to helping Russia protect its nuclear facilities-and an estimated 6oo
metric tons of weapons-attractive materials in the country. Later,
her work came under the jurisdiction of the National Nuclear
Security Administration.
The two nations continue to work cooperatively to secure
Russian materials, but certain agreements had not been signed
when Nelson-Jean joined the effort. She believed that only face-toface meetings would facilitate negotiations, and she soon found
herself leading a delegation of U.S. security specialists and
scientists to the Arctic Circle. "I flew on Russian airlines, on
planes with bald tires. It's worse when you have 30-degree-belowzero temperatures, and the runway is a sheet of ice. The guest
houses were livable, but when you turned the water on, lots
of brown gunk came out," she recalls.
St. John's College. Winter 2005
}
In the negotiations, Nelprograms, technical center
son-Jean was at a disadvandesigns, and construction
tage-not because she lacked
schedules for the facility.
a science degree and not
Her award was a nice plus,
because she is an Mricanbut Nelson-Jean modestly
American woman. Instead,
says the real reward lies in
her youth worked against
the work itself. In her new
her. "In Russia," she says,
role in Japan , nuclear ener"they respect expeTience
gy is just one of the issues
moTe than anything, and
she handles. Her n-year-old
when you're young, how
daughter, Rachelle, attends
much experience can you
an American school in
have?"
Tokyo and may have inherIt was in overcoming that
ited her mother's skills.
barrier that heT Graduate
"When it comes to negotiatInstitute experiences proved
ing, she has it down pat,"
most helpful. She was able to
says Nelson-Jean. Her husCrOSS the boundaries of age and ethnicity How DO YOU BREAK THE ICE IN A ROOM
band, Patrick, is stationed about IO hours
because she knew that genuine conversation FULL OF RussiAN SciENTISTS? NICOLE
away at a U.S. military base in Iwakuni.
cultivates trust and respect. "The ability to NELSON-JEANWOULDTALKBOOKS.
Nelson-Jean has been adapting to a new
learn about different cultures, to really hear
culture again, by watching, listening, and
different perspectives without judging, to
respecting differences. "When dealing
communicate and talk with other people-all
with Russians, you can slam your books
were developed sitting around the seminar
and throw your papers-in Japan it's very
table at St. John's," she says.
civilized and very quiet. The Russians,
She had also read Tolstoy at the college
they're tough, and they're very good at negoand was able to convey true interest and
tiating. With the Japanese, they deal with
appreciation for Russian history and culture.
things by not dealing with them so directly."
NICOLE NELSON-JEAN (AGIOO)
Her knowledge of other classics in the WestWhen pressed, Nelson-Jean acknowledges
ern canon gave her the chance to talk with
that the world is perhaps a little bit safer for
the Russians about something other than weapons-grade plutothe work she has done. When she made her first trip to Russia,
nium. "Many of the people you deal with who have reached high
"September I I hadn't happened yet." What the NNSA seeks to
levels with scientific backgrounds are also very well read in the
prevent-unsecured nuclear material falling into the hands of a
classics," she explains.
terrorist group-seemed a more distant threat than it does today.
One of the best outcomes of the negotiations was a new cooperThe terrorist attacks sharpened her focus and have helped shape
ative agreement with the Russian Ministry of Defense. Another
her career. "I feel better that our cooperation is stronger with
was the establishment of the Kola Technical Center, the first
Russia today," she says. "It's made my work even more satisfying.
multimillion-dollar service and training center for securing
I feel like I'm making a difference. I hope I am."-$nuclear material and weapons in Russia. Nelson-Jean worked with
the Russian navy and Russian contractors to develop training
"In Russia they
respect experience
more than anything. "
{ THE
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St. John's College. Winter 2005
}
�22
{ATOMIC
JoHNNIES}
{ATOMIC
JoHNNIES}
BEYOND
THE BOMB
Johnnies Pursue Research Questions at Los Alamos
DY ANDRA MAGURAN
INCE
J.
ROBERT OPPENHEIMER LED A TEAM
of scientists in developing the atomic
bomb at a laboratory created on the site
of a former boarding school in I943, it's
been difficult for the sprawling Los
Alamos National Laboratory to promote
an image of being anything other than a
secretive place where nuclear weapons
are developed. Santa Fe senior Chris
Horne witnessed this view firsthand last summer when he
went to work at Los Alamos as an intern and encountered a
gathering of anti-war protesters. It was a bit ironic, he
thought, considering he was assigned to the lab's project
focused on efforts to find a cure for HN.
About 40 miles northwest of Santa Fe, Los Alamos
National Laboratory is the nation's leading science
research facility, currently operated by the University of
California for the Energy Department's National Nuclear
Security Administration. Together with Sandia National
Laboratories, the laboratory is the state's largest employer,
and many Johnnies work there as scientists, researchers,
project managers, and in various support roles. Many more
Johnnies have taken advantage ofthe laboratory's student
internship program, which employs about 2,ooo students
every year.
{ TH E
CoLLEGE .
The development of nuclear weapons is, of course, still a
major part of the laboratory's work, and some Johnnies are
part of that. But Horne says that the public is generally
unaware of the scope of research conducted at Los Alamos.
Horne worked as a bioinformatician on a project devoted to
using LANL's worldwide database ofHN virus information
to better understand the strain responsible for the AIDS
pandemic. In the summer internship, Horne used mathematical models and computer programs to annotate a
viral genome. He organized raw genetic data-namely, the
basic nucleotide series constituting the DNA of his
assigned virus-into charts, graphics, and text to create a
resource for medical and pharmaceutical researchers.
Since he recognized certain repeated portions of the series
in the viral genome he was annotating, he was given liberty
to name them as he wished. Inspired by the Iliad, he
gave the sequences names such as Agamemnon, Leitos,
and Euryalos.
Along with gaining experience in a scientific setting,
Horne enjoyed adapting his seminar skills to the professional environment of the lab. He gave two presentations,
one for the Annual Summer Student Symposium, a showcase for work done by summer interns. Since he'd been
annotating a viral genome, Horne created a poster displaying the sample gene record for one of the 77 genes he'd
St. John's College . Winter 20 0 5
}
examined. His other presentation-on SciENTIST EDWARD TELLER (CENTER) AT
ers can speak, to understand the
FuLLER LoDGE IN Los ALAMOS IN I946.
open reading frames, a type of gene
mechanics of this speech, and to alter
found in DNA-was part of a series of T ELLER WOULD LATER BECOME KNOWN AS
these mechanics to develop more
THE "FATHER OF THE HYDROGEN BOMB."
meetings that were held to update
efficient [computer] languages," says
members of his immediate group on
Hurwitz.
contemporary issues in genetics and
In his two years interning at the lab ,
virology. Mter his 45-minute talk, he
Hurwitz published six papers and was
ably defended his work in the question
the primary author for four of them. (A
period-even though he felt a bit intimsample title: "End-to-End Performance
idated facing a room full of scientists.
of Io-Gigabit Ethernet on Commodity
An internship in computational
Systems" published last year in IEEE
science was an equally rewarding expeMicro.) He was also part of a team that
Gus HuRWITZ (sFog)
rience for Justin "Gus" Hurwitz
set a new record in the Guinness Book of
(SFo3), who completed two internships before going on to
World Records for the fastest transmission of data over the
work full time at the lab. During his junior and senior years,
Internet (2.38 billion bits per second). "The lab is a serious
and for a year after graduation, Hurwitz worked at the lab
place to work," Hurwitz says, and a place where even Johnconducting experimental and theoretical research in areas
nies without a graduate-level scientific background can
of high-performance computer networking and protocol
contribute a great deal. "If you show your mentor that you
design in the Advanced Computing Laboratory, or ACL,
are capable of contributing to the work, the only limits will
part of the Computer and Computational Science Division.
be those you place on yourself."
Hurwitz's work in high-performance computer networking
In the working environment of Los Alamos, Hurwitz
was designed to improve the performance of the supercomfound similarities to the intellectual environment
puters used in nuclear science simulation.
fostered at St. John's. "The laboratory is a place where
"In more Johnnie-centric terms, I was a computational
people embrace inquiry and challenging questions," he
philologist, working to increase the rate at which computsays. He never encountered anyone who thought that the
"The laboratory is a
place wherepeople
embrace inquiry and
challenging questions. "
{ TH E
C oLLEGE .
St. John's College. Winter 2 005
}
�,-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-- -----
{ATOMIC
{ATOMIC
}OHNNIES}
DEBRA RuTHERFORD
HAS SPENT MOST OF
HER PROFESSIONAL
LIFE AT Los ALAMos.
liberal arts were useless; to the conweapons play in the lab-like me in my
trary, many of his co-workers with scifirst few months; you \vill meet moral
entific and technical backgrounds 'vish
delusionists , and those who work \vith
they had had the opportunity to read
the deadliest materials mankind has ever
the classics. "One of my co-workers
known and don't care, for whatever
always had a book \vith him. We had a
reason, to ask these questions. You \vill
number of good talks about Austen's
DEBRA RuTHERFORD ( sF8o)
meet idealists, who believe that they are
Emma, Descartes, and Locke."
helping to prevent more weapons from
c
Now that he's left the laboratory,
being built by maintaining the ones that
Hur\vitzhas turned his thoughts more
we already have," he says.
frequently to the difficult ethical questions he has previ"In short, the lab is a place on the edge of the greatest
ously avoided. A Johnnie who works at ~os Alamos \vill
moral dilemmas that I have ever encountered. Those
meet people whose views run a \vide gamut. "You \vill meet
questions are rarely asked or discussed, but they are always
people who have been at the lab since the Cold War for
there under the surface. And, if you scrape down below the
whom nuclear weapons were a necessary reality that could
surface, you \vill find as many understandings, acceptances, justifications, avoidances, and explanations of these
not be questioned. You \vill meet skeptics who question the
role that nuclear weapons played during the Cold War and
questions as there are employees at the lab. But, the most
the logic behind the arms races; you will meet
common response that you \vill find, nowadays, is, "I don't
people who do not understand the role that nuclear
know.'
"The intellectual
rigor. .. is astounding. "
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. fohn's College. Winter 2005
}
JoHNNIES}
'Yyworkis
tangential to kzlling
people and deJ'troying
the world"
''My work is tangential to killing peoin the area of nonproliferation. The reasoning and diplomatic skills she learned
ple and destroying the world. It is not
Gus HuRWITZ
at St. John's have proven as useful to her
the clean morality of a book, the ponas her scientific and technical training.
derous morality of Augustine, or the
technical morality of Kant; and it is far
"I participate and lead international
and domestic advisory panels and working groups, which
scarier than even the worst of that which Nietzsche could
require the skills one learns in seminar," she says.
conceive .... Students of philosophy in general \villlikely be
Rutherford feels the lab's most famous work, the Mansurprised by just how introspective most scientists are
about their work."
hattan Project, was a significant contribution to the end of
In addition to continuing as a consultant for the computWWII. But she is also impressed that the spirit of inquiry
er science company he founded while still in high school,
and the level of scientific excellence fostered in the
Hur\vitz is now making plans to attend law school with an
lab's early days have continued into the fields of physics,
eye to one day working at the intersection of science and
chemistry, biology, engineering, and mathematics. The
people she works \vith and leads at Los Alamos are proud of
law.
Unlike Hur\vitz and Horne, Debra Rutherford (SF8o)
their work and believe they are contributing to America's
freedom, she adds.
can provide few details about her work at Los Alamos,
where she took a short-term job after graduation
"The intellectual rigor \vith which national and internabefore going on to earn a master's degree in chemical and
tional scientific endeavors are pursued is astounding,"
nuclear engineering from the University of New Mexico.
Rutherford says.-$-She has worked full time at the laboratory since rg8g in
areas of nuclear technology
and nuclear material management-in short, helping to
safeguard the nation's nuclear
stockpile.
A clue to why she can't
say much about her work
may be found in the title she
holds now: Project Leader and
Nonproliferation and International Security Analyst in
the International Research,
Analysis, and Development
Group at the lab. What
Rutherford can say about
her job is that she leads a I2nation working group on the
need for critical experiments
AT
Los ALAMos, Gus HuRWITZ
CONDUCTED 'RESEARCH, WROTE
PAPERS, AND HELPED SET A NEW
WORLD RECORD FOR INTERNET
SPEED.
{ THE
CoLLEGE.
St. fohn's College. Winter 2005}
I
I
�{HOMECOMING}
{HOMECOMING}
HoMECOMING NOTEs:
ODYSSEY
Merit Award winners: William A.
Carter, class of 1940; Charlotte King,
class of 1959
Honorary alumnus: Glenn Housley,
class of 2004 (For more on awards,
see the Alumni Association section,
p. 47·)
IN OCTOBER
Homer Attracts a Crowdfor Annapolis Homecoming
ou couldn't say that Homecoming 2004 in Annapolis
lacked drama. Not with a
dozen or so costumed
students acting out the
homecoming scene of the
Odyssey in Iglehart Hall. Alumni happily
played the role of hungry suitors, noshing
on Greek appetizers offeta cheese,
hummus, and olives while they awaited
the banquet.
You couldn't say it lacked pizzazz-not
with a flock of plastic pink flamingos
leading the way to the picnic tent
("Kalypso's Isle"), where ceramic pigs
graced the table and calypso music played
on a steel drum had revelers dancing in
the buffet line .
·
And you certainly couldn't say it lacked
a good story, not with a dozen members
Y
of the class ofi954 , the last all-male class
to graduate at St. John' s, back on campus.
Rallied to attend by reunion class leader
and Annapolis tutor Sam Kutler, the
boisterous group matched much younger
Johnnies in their enthusiasm for the
weekend's festivities. On Saturday afternoon, they lingered in the private dining
room of Randall Hall telling stories and
drinking wine until they could be coaxed
outside for a group photo.
Arnold Markowitz stopped to comment
on changes in the main dining hall, where
bow-tied waiters did the serving in his
day. "Chairs," he observed. "We didn't
have chairs. We sat on benches." The
group disagreed on a few things. One
remembered milk cartons being lobbed at
the students by the servers; another was
Homecoming lecture: "Human Rights
from Antigone to Rosa Parks," Peter
Weiss, class ofr949
certain pitchers of milk were set on the
table.
Other members of the class were
pleased to see that the Chinese paintings
of a royal couple installed during President Dick Weigle's era were still hanging
in the dining room. The portraits were
among the few things that haven't
changed a great deal since these class
members attended the college . When
they were on campus, Campbell Hall was
brand new, Mellon Hall wasn't even a
blueprint, and students directed their
energy toward thwarting attempted
restrictions on their social lives that
today's students wouldn't believe.
With 450 students-compared to about
125 in 1954-the student body today seems
very large. "We were a small class," says
Bernie Jacobs, of New York City. "Only I7
of us graduated. It was a brief ceremony."
Several of the alumni remembered the
turmoil when women joined the student
body in their sophomore year. Eric
Crooke was one of several members of
the class to marry one ofthe first female
Johnnies. He and his wife, Sarah (class of
1955), live in Silver Spring, Md., and he's
been back to campus frequently since
graduation.
A nephew of tutor John Kieffer
(HA7o), Crooke learned of the college
through his uncle, but he came to
St. John's ofhis own choosing. "I've
never regretted it," he said, though he
heard many, many times, "you look like
John Kieffer" when he got to Annapolis.
Biggest turnout: Class of rg84, with
39 members registered. Annastasia
Kezar, assisted by Lenore Parens,
mustered the good showing, in part
by compiling for class members a CD
of '8os hits including "Rock the Casbah" and "Rock Lobster." A close
second was the class of rgg4, with
25 registrants.
Gerald Geddiman came all the
way from California for the
reunion. He hadn't visited the
campus since the day he received
his diploma under the Liberty
Tree. " I like what's happened," he
said, looking around. "I do like
the Greenfield Library. Next, I
want to go over and see Woodward
Hall-what's it called now?"
Santa Fe tutor emeritus Robert
Sacks-with Kutler one of two
members of the class to become
a tutor-was swept up in the nostalgia of the afternoon. "Fifty
years-it doesn't seem that long,"
he said.
The 1954 class members were
among the most honored guests at
what turned out to be the biggest
Homecoming yet in Annapolis .
More than 400 Johnnies attended
all or part of the weekend. At
Saturday evening's banquet, the
gymnasium was transformed (via
cardboard columns) into a palace,
where an energetic group of
students led by Julie Janicki (Ao6)
reunited Odysseus and Penelope
once more.
Inspired by the performance,
one alumnus giving his class toast
raised his glass to a true honorary
Johnnie. "Let's hear it for
Homer!" he said, starting the
alumni chanting: "Homer!
Homer! Homer!"._
Theme tchotchke: handy St. John's
backpack-good for any odyssey
TOP TO BOTTOM: STUDENTS GREET GUESTS TO
THE PICNIC TENT; MEMBERS OF THE CLASS OF
I954;
-ROSEMARY HARTY
PENELOPE AND ODYSSEUS, TOGETHER
AGAIN; AND MINGLING AT THE SATURDAY
COCKTAIL PARTY.
I945, AND
I949o PONDER A
CHARLES NELSON, CLASS OF
JIM CONRAD, CLASS OF
PHOTOS BY G ARY PIERPOINT
SEMINAR QUESTION.
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. John's College. Winter 2005
}
{ THE
C o L LEGE .
St. John's College. W inter 2005
}
�~-------------·--------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------~
{THE
FACULTY}
{BIBLIOFILE}
IN ARisTOTLE~s FooTSTEPS
pARADISE LOST: REGAINED
A Healthy Marsh Enhances Freshman Laboratory
PARADISE LosT, r668-rg68 :
THREE CENTURIES oF CoMMENTARY
BY RoBINWErss (sFGI87)
On an autumn day in
Annapolis, at the foot of the
Boathouse, marsh grasses
wave along College Creek, a
testament to the health of
this six-year-old wetlands
restoration site. Cattails,
pinecones, and fist-size
mushrooms grow vigorously along the banks.
On their own initiative,
students often use the
marsh for projects such as
reseeding oysters, Environmental Club activities,
marsh cleanup , and independent research. Since
efforts to restore the grasslands have taken hold,
"we have more fish, crabs,
heron ...everything," says
tutor Kathy Blits.
Trekking through a
muddy marsh into a murky creek
isn't for everyone. But a few
weeks before the season turned,
some students in freshman lab
and a couple of tutors-enriching
the practica side of their biology
curriculum- took the plunge.
"Some ofmystudentswentin up
to their necks," says freshman
lab tutor Margaret Kirby. Using a
huge net supplied by tutor Jason
Tipton, they emerged from the
creek with four- to eight-inchlong fish . "We were just lucky
that we got really cool ones,"
Kirby says.
Thtor Christian Holland (A84)
recalls a handful of students
"leaping into the water to catch
a bunch of fish for the laboratory
tanks" after Holland showed
them Tipton's techniques. His
students continue to observe
these 40-some fish, well past the
fish sequence oflab.
This method of shallow
fishing with nets, called seining,
isn't new to the college, nor is
the aquarium in Mellon Hall,
which has been augmented over
the years by lab director Mark
"Small ugly;
insign!ficantfoh
consumed
[Aristotle :S}
thinking. "
TUTOR JASON TIPTON
Daly. In 1999, the college undertook a pilot project to restore a
portion of the College Creek
shoreline, with funding from
several sources including the
city of Annapolis and Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The
project proved successful in
increasing the number and
variety of wildlife habitats along
the creek and filtering stormwater runoff. When Tipton started
teaching three years ago, he was
thrilled with the pocket marsh
on campus, specifically its
possibilities for, what he calls,
"the pursuit of slippery prey."
The ubiquitous minnows aside,
Tipton names sunfish, silversides, croaker, yellow perch and
"FISH ARE A WORLD
I
KNOW," SAYS
ANNAPOLIS TUTOR JASON TIPTON
pipefish as some of the fresh
water and marine life plentiful in
this estuary.
"Fish are a world I know,"
Tipton says. An ichthyologist,
with a master's in evolutionary
biology and a Ph.D. in philosophy, Tipton wrote his dissertation on Aristotle's On the Parts
ofAnimals. Before coming to
St. John's, he spent a year in
Greece as a Fulbright fellow
tracking down, and finding,
Aristotle's fish. " One doesn't
have to be an ichthyologist,"
Tipton says, to stumble around
in the marsh.
''I'm paraphrasing, but
Aristotle says: 'Don't be afraid
to root around in the organic
world; there are gods here too.'
I love that idea. There 's something about getting your hands
dirty; Aristotle suggests something rhetorically powerful
about that."
More than 2,300 years ago,
Aristotle paid careful attention
{ THE CoLLEGE. St. John 's College . Winter 2005 }
to the eating, mating, and
breeding habits of fish in
their habitats. "Small,
ugly, insignificant fish
consumed his thinking,"
he says. Jars of alcoholpreserved goby and
blenny-Aristotle's one
fish, found to be two
through Mr. Tipton's
research- line a windowsill in Mellon. On one
jar, crowded with sturdy
grayish-brown fish , each
about two fingers long,
the label reads: " Bay of
Kallori, Lesvos, 4 km. N.
ofPyrrah, 75 m below s
altmarsh."
Nearby, tanks of marsh
fish from College Creek,
some wiggly, some mellow, inspire ongoing
student examination.
Atop one tank, a note
warns observers not to
touch or "you might get a case of
nasty microbes."
Freshman lab assistant Allison
Hennigan (Ao6) explains the
truth behind the joke: "Little
white crustaceans, about the
size of a dime," had attached
themselves to the gills and eyes
of certain fish. Eventually, the
arthropod parasites would have
worked their way into the blood
vessels on the gills or, after
sucking eye fluid, entered the
bloodstream through the eyes.
Biocalm, an anesthetic, seemed
to get the fish drunk, recalls
Hennigan: "The fish were doing
backllips. The parasites seemed
drunk, too ." The drug worked,
and the fish are healthy.
Students don't dissect these
specimens. Instead, Daly goes
to a local seafood store to get
" kitchen fish " such as rockfish,
flounder, and bluefish, for
students to dissect in lab. -t-
Edited by Earl Miner, co-edited by
William Moeck (A80), corresponding
editor Steven Jablonski
Bucknell University Press, 2004
BY G. A u GusT DErMEL, SF2004
---·--hen William Moeck
graduated from
St. John's in 1980,
he could not have
envisioned one
day co-editing a
massive volume of commentary on
Paradise Lost. First, like many Johnnies,
Moeck had developed "a healthy contempt
for secondary sources." Second, he had
skipped the Milton reading and seminars.
"I r em ember fearing that Milton would
be a boring or difficult author," Moeck
says. "Samuel Johnson once said that while
everyone could recognize the greatness of
Paradise Lost, no man ever wished it
longer."
When Moeck moved to New York after
graduation, he kept his Shawcross edition
of the poem along with his other Program
books. Fe eling guilty that he had never
gotten around to it, Moeck toted the book
along on vacation many years later and
discovered that he had missed a truly great
book. "I recall with vividness that on
vacation in 1988 I found clever and
Paradise Lost 1668-1968
,.HREE CENTURIES OF COMMENTARY
"
tdttor Enrl M1ner
Co·Edttor Wtlham Moec.k
Corresponding £d1tor Steven Jablonski
admirable the speeches of Satan.
I r ecall how moving the domestic
tragedy of Adam and Eve to be,
when Adam practically insults her
for wanting to go off to the garden
alone. If we are able to read
Genesis as literature nowadays ,
Milton must be given partial credit
for that change, fm he has told a
better story than the Bible itself,"
he says.
Reading Milton inspired Moeck
to look into graduate school, and
he later entered a doctoral progTam in English literature at City
University of New York. As he
wrote his dissertation, he began to
examine how passages from other
works influenced Milton. His dissertation adviser connected him
with Princeton University professor Earl Miner on the project that
would eventually become Paradise Lost
1668-tg68: Three Centuries of Commentary.
When he first conceived of the book
more than a decade ago, Miner (who died
last April) envisioned a reference book of
allusions on the Milton epic. Miner and
an early collaborator on the project,
Steven Jablonski, had begun collating representative work from scholars of Milton.
When Moeck joined the pToject in 1997,
"a different sort of problem emerged in
terms of defining what an allusion is."
"Imitation, echo, copy, allusion-even
parody and farce-all form a network of
words with related meanings . They imply
some sort of relationship between one text
and another that can be studied and
qualified. But how rigorously can one
establish how they differ from each other?
Is an unconscious borrowing also to be
considered as related to allusion?"
Moeck provided an example in the
oft-quoted passage where Satan says,
"The mind ... Can make a Heaven of Hell,
a Hell of Heaven."
"Has Milton here borrowed unwittingly
from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's.
Dream, where one character says 'I'll
follow thee , and make a heaven of h ell'
(2.1.243)? The character in question ,
Helena, is merely the frustrated lover of
Demetrius, and not the diabolic perverter
of humankind. Would Milton in his lines
thus more likely be responding to the
{ T HE C oL L EGE. S t. John 's College . Win ter 2 005 }
IT TOOK HIM IO YEARS TO GET TO THE READING,
BUT PARADISE L OST EVENTUALLY CAPTIVATED
WILLIAM MOECK.
metaphysically-oriented Hamlet instead,
who also says ' There is nothing either good
or bad, but thinking makes it so' (2.2.24849)? Or do we have to look elsewhere for
Milton's sources, in Thomas Browne, for
example, or in the writing of the stoics?"
Together Miner and Moeck combed
through the available work on Milton
and chose commentary on each of the
12 books ofMilton's poem. A research
library unto itself, the book includes the
best commentary from Patrick Hume
(r6gs) to Alastair Fowler in rg68.
Now a pTofessor at Nassau Community
College in Garden City, N.Y., Moeckis
reading Augustine , Freud, Darwin, and
Marx with students in an interdisciplinary
program. The contempt he once held
for secondary sources has diminished
considerably, but he still believes in the
value oheading original texts before the
commentary of others.
"I think the very idea of such a reading
of the classics is embattled nowadays , and
probably the strongest line of defense
against the pre-professional training
vaunted by most undergraduate schools
would be to invoke the shibboleth ' critical
thinking,' " h e says. ~
�,-----------~-------·~- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
{ALUMNI
{ALUMNI
PROFILE}
I've just completed r6 weeks of
training in getting certified as a
volunteer hospital chaplain."
CoMMITTED TO HELPING FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
Linnea Back Klee, A67, Balances I deals and Details
BY CAROLINE KNAPP, SFoi
rom her fourth-floor
office in San Francisco's Mission District,
Linnea Back Klee
(A67) has sweeping
views of the city, from
Nob Hill across the bay to the
shipyards of Oakland. Seagulls and
ragged palm trees flap in the foggy
air; down below, high school
students straggle down the sidewalk,
swinging their backpacks. Construction cranes sway up over the traffic
lights of Van Ness.
Inside, order reigns . Klee's deskfrom which she directs one of the
city's largest nonprofits, administers
an annual budget of$ so million, and
manages a staff ofr3o-has perhaps
three stacks of paper on it, each
corralled in its own tray. There are
no aging Post-its, no toppling files,
no stray paperclips. Even her
awards, bronze plaques from the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
and various nonprofit groups, are
neatly aligned on the bookcase.
The Children's Council of San
Francisco, Klee's professional home
since 1993, strives to make sure that San
Francisco's working families can meet one
of the most basic needs of daily life : affordable , high-quality child care. The council's
referral programs put parents in touch
with child-care providers, its education
programs train caregivers, and, perhaps
most crucially, its subsidy programs
administer the monthly payments that
put child care within the financial reach of
low-income mothers and fathers.
But, not to lose sight of the social
environment in which all these individual
choices are made, the Children's Council
is also a major advocacy force in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Washington.
Through public policy lobbying and
grassroots organizing, Children's Council
employees and volunteers do their best
to bring the needs of working parents,
child-care providers, and children before
lawmakers and voters.
A "QUIET"
JoHNNIE, LINNEA BAcK
KLEE FOUND HER VOICE IN ADVOCACY.
her sophomore year, Klee wrote a
letter to tutor Barbara Leonard
(HAss) about the difficulties of
being a quiet Johnnie, packed her
bags, and went on to earn a degree
at George Washington University.
Klee's journey from the ether to
the grassroots can be traced in part
through her higher degrees: after
GWU, she earned a master's in cultural anthropology from Catholic
University, then a Ph.D. in medical
anthropology from the University of
California, San Francisco. Klee had
considered following her husband,
Earl Klee, into teaching. But her
thesis project, on cultural perceptions of illness in history, refused to
be contained in the classroom:
by1983, the AIDS epidemicwas
exploding like a shell over San
Francisco, and suddenly the most
interesting sources weren't in the
library. They were in the hospitals and in
the streets. Thus began Klee's decade of
~eldwork in medical anthropology.
An introvert no more, she interviewed
women about their attitudes toward childbirth, former GM workers about their
alcohol abuse, children of alcoholics
about their parents. In 1985 she joined a
colleague at the newly founded Center for
the Vulnerable Child at Oakland's Children's Hospital, where she continued her
work as a researcher with the center's target population: children in foster care. "I
loved going and meeting all those people
and talking to them," she says.
But her work at the Center for the
Vulnerable Child was leading her toward
another emerging talent: As program
coordinator of an innovative and perpetually underfunded nonprofit, Klee began
writing grants. By the time she left in 1993
to become the executive director of the
Children's Council, she had become very
"People arefinally
starting to get it. "
LINNEA BACK KLEE
(A67)
At the helm of all this, Klee, a gracious,
attentive woman with a generous smile, is
the first to admit that her work is not for
everyone. "It goes from the sublime to the
ridiculous," she says. "I've got employee
parking problems .in front of me one
minute, then major public funding
questions."
But Klee's background has made her
comfortable in balancing ideals and
details . Although she attended St. John's
40 years ago, she still remembers loving
Euclid and the freshman-year program.
"I really loved the curriculum," she says a
little wistfully. "But I just couldn't talk. I
was an introvert in an extrovert's college."
Klee followed her brother, Eric Back (A6s),
to Annapolis in I963. But midway through
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. John 's College. Winter 2005
continued
}
HEl\'RY SHRYOCK JR. was recently
awarded "The President's Call
to Service Award" by the
President's Council on Service
and Civic Participation.
1 935
"I'm still working- practicing law
for the past 66 years and I hope
to get it right soon!" writes
RICHARD WOODMAN.
Milestones: GIL CRANDALL writes
that he celebrated his 8gth
birthday on July r, 2004, and
classmate MARTIN RAuscH
celebrated his goth birthday
on July 8, 2004.
ERNEST HEINMULLER writes to
say that the " 'keep reading, keep
learning' credo ofWinkie
[Stringfellow Barr] is still alive:
1943
At 85, MILTON PERLMAN is still
reading many hours a day: "The
most important benefit of the
Program is a love of reading. I am
still hoping that at least the first
part of Proust's novel will be
restored to the fourth-year list."
GEORGE R. TRIMBEL JR. hecame
a great-grandfather with two
great-grandsons born one week
apart in October 2004.
NoTES}
eager for the homecoming: "We
have not seen him for three years ,
given our own driving limitations-twenty minutes to and
from church each Sunday is the
longest, with Rita on 24-hour
oxygen, etc."
GEORGE WEND continues to
participate in the Baltimore
Alumni Association chapter's
book discussion group. The
summer before last, he took a
trip to Peru to visit Machu
Picchu, the Andes, and the
Amazon. This past summer,
he took a two-week river cruise
from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
THE REV. FREDERICK P. DAVIS
writes from California that his
son, David, is expected back
home from a convalescent center
early this spring after suffering
several health problems, including a broken leg and infections
that settled in both legs. The
Rev. Davis and his wife, Rita, are
continuedJr:om page 30
good indeed at nonprofit management and
her grant writing was paying the salaries of
the entire staff.
In her I I years with the Children's
Council, Klee has supervised its expansion
from a neighborhood organization with
35 employees to its current status as a
statewide player with 130 employees and its
own building. She's been gratified to see
public opinion shift on child care ("people
are finally starting to get it").
Today Klee's work continues to walk the
line between the big picture and the individual story. These days, she's the one who
Enjoying the retired life,
JOAN CoLE just returned from an
Alaskan cruise. "The glaciers,
mountains, lakes, and wild life
are too impressive for words .
Residents spoke about their
state with the enthusiasm and
pride of staunch St. Johnnies,"
she writes.
gets int~rviewed for articles, and at work
she goes weeks without seeing a child. She
writes the position papers for the council's
public policy committee and sits on the
policy boards of sister nonprofits. But she
is acutely aware that the 30o,ooo children
on the waiting lists for public assistance
in California represent not only budget
dollars but also individual families with
complex, often pressing needs.
What more, she's aware that the work
she strives so hard to keep organized, there
in her office with the city laid out all
around her, is work that truly can- in the
most simple ways- help many of those people. Nonprofit management is a good field,
{ TH E
CoL L EGE .
St. John's College. Winter 2005
HILDRErH BECKER (HILDY
SMITH) writes: ''I'm a happy
grandmother again: grandson
Alexander Paige, son of rg88
[Annapolis] alumnus CHRISTINA
MYER PAIGE. He joins his sister
Adela, who is now nine. Christina is working full time as a high
school math teacher. What have I
been doing since attending the
college? I pursue my studies in
philosophy and other esoteric
pursuits."
1962
JOHN FRANKLIN MILLER is president of the board of the Library
of American Landscape History.
1957
1 949
rg6o
rg68
PETER CoEN (A) is currently
employed as an assistant public
defender in Bradenton, Manatee
County, Florida.
ANTIGONE PHALARES (SF) spent a
week in Santa Fe in July staying
with ALLISON KARSLAKE LEMONS
(SF68), DoN (SFGigr), and two
she says, "if you're interested in pursuing
the Good. That's what we do."
As for less practical pursuits of the
Good, Klee still hasn't given up on the
idea of St. John's. She and her husband, a
professor at UC Berkeley, visited Santa Fe
last summer and are already thinking that
perhaps, when they retire, getting a few
more degrees might not be amiss . "I
wouldn't have any problem talking in
seminar now," Klee says, laughing. --$-
Caroline Knapp lives in Berkeley,
California, and is an editorial assistant at
the University of California Press.
}
�{ALUMNI
sons Micha 1md Than, and a
St. Johnnie , JAKE, a junior at the
Santa Fe campus. "We gathered
around the television listening to
the speeches of the Democratic
convention . It was delightful to
be amongst politically like-minded friends. Allison and I enjoyed
a three-night, do-it-yourself
retreat at the Holy Archangels
skete near Canones in northern
New Mexico. We had lunch with
Claudia and Sam Lancombe and
reminisced and sputtered over
the political mess-o-potamia our
government has gotten us
embroiled in. Both Allison and I
fac e the empty nest; this fall her
sons leave for Italy and Hungary.
My daughter, Heather, is already
in Paris."
1969
LINDA M. BERNSTEIN (A) writes:
"Our first grandchild was born in
August. We are fortunate our son
and his wife and their new son
live in Philadelphia so we can
enjoy their company and watch
him grow. Meanwhile, our third
son has left home to become a
freshman at Guilford College in
Greensboro, N.C . We would
be 'empty-nesters' but our
middle son has moved back
home until he gets established
after graduating from Boston
University last May."
JoHN GOODWIN (SF) is now
marketing director at the Plaza
Hotel in Las Vegas, N.M. "I am
also the president of Habitat for
Humanity in Las Vegas llJ.ld with
any luck will be single soon! "
RACHEL HALLFORD 'I'REIMAN (A)
decided it was time to bring The
College up to date: "I divorced in
2001, and after my son entered
college, sold the house in New
York and returned to Lewistown,
Montana, where my brother
lives, last December. I am now
coordinator for the Retired and
Senior Volunteer Program covering Fergus County and Judith
Basin County. Since that is only
30 hours a week with no benefits,
I also work online 20 hours for
benefits . My oldest, Grace , is now
21 and a senior at the University
of Pennsylvania, majoring in history. My son Andrew is 19, a
sophomore at the University of
North Dakota, majoring in Air
Traffic Control and on an Air
Force ROTC scholarship, planning to go career Air Force. I love
being back in Montana. I was
born in Lewistown (left when I
was six) and therefore , for many
of the older folks I identify myself
by my grandfather, mother, and
her siblings. That slots me in the
scheme of things. I'm fortun ate
my family was liked back thenpeople have long memories out
here!"
If you've lost track of BRAD ARMs
(A), it's because he and his family
have been on the move: "2004
was the year of moving for
us ... three times! After living in
various parts of the country
based mainly on the job ... we
finally had a chance to pick where
we wanted to live . We had always
liked Oregon for its beauty and
friendliness .. .so in early 2004,
we sold our house in Simsbury.
Since the house sold quicker than
we expected, we moved into a
1930 Colonial, which we had
fixed up as an investment
property. We were there for two
months while we made arrangements to move West. And then it
was on to Lake Oswego, Ore.,
where we rented a house while we
decided exactly where we wanted
to live and what to buy. Finally,
on November 30 , we closed on
our new house in West Linn,
which is about ro miles south
of Portland. The house is comparable in size to the one in
{ TH E
CoLLE GE .
{ALUMNI
NoTES}
Simsbury. It is built on the hill,
which gives it a view of Mt. Hood
in back. Jen & Chris have started
classes here locally. Their interests are in computer animation
and web site design. Meanwhile,
we are settling into the new
house and learning about all that
Oregon has to offer."
ROBIN KOWALCHUK BURK (A) is
at West Point: "I have been
teaching at the U.S . Military
Academy for the last 3 years,
first in the computer science and
information technology
programs and now in the systems
engineering department, where
I currently advise groups of
seniors applying Multiple
Objective Decision Analysis and
simulation techniques to projects
for real-world clients. I've also
begun doctoral studies at SUNY
Albany in the Information
Science program, with a focus on
intelligent software agents and
their application to group
decision making. Best regards to
the staff at St. John's and to all
the alumni that ROGER (A74) and
I missed seeing this past weekend
at Homecoming."
· .. .... · · · · · · · · · · · · · · .. .. · · · · · · · · · · · .. ·
1973
DONNEL (A) andJANET O' FLYNN
(A74) moved to Hamilton, N.Y.,
home of Colgate University, on
Oct. r6 , 2004. Donnel will be
rector of St. Thomas' Episcopal
Church . Janet will work as a
therapist, probably in the public
schools. AIDAN O'FLYNN (Aos)
graduates in May. Kathleen
O'Flynn is now an EMT and
looking forward to joining a
New York ambulance crew.
1 974
MARIE CLARK AVERY (SF) has
four sons : Justin, 20; David, 18;
Josh, 14; and Tyrel, rr. She
taught for the Jicarilla Department of Education, Apache
Government. A founding
member of the National Campaign for Tolerance, she also
received the National Nomination to the Wall of Tolerance in
February 2oor. The wall, she
notes, was designed by Maya Lin
and is similar to the Vietnam
Wall. She started her master's
degree program in rggg and
most recently has been a special
education teacher in Espanola.
1 977
CLIFF ADAMS (A) is divorced
and has three children: " I live in
Germany, I'm traveling a lot,
and loving life."
JUDY KISTLER-ROBINSON (SF)
recently visited classmate ELIZABETH (COCHRAN) BOWDEN (SF)
at her home in Marblehead,
Mass. The two celebrated their
birthdays and being friends for
more than half their lifetimes at
the Kripalu Yoga Center in the
Berkshires. Judy also watched the
continued
AGGIE JACOBS (SF71) has been engaged in the
type of work that reaps real rewards: "Mter
three years of composing music for Hebrew
prayers , I am about to release a CD of my work.
I don't expect to make any money from it, but
I'm hoping that my music will find an audience." -*'"
S t. John 's College . Winter 2005
}
33
FRoM HINDU FESTIVAL To HIGH ScHooL BASEBALL
Alex Shear, SFoo, Explores Lffe Through Documentaries
BY R o s E MARY HARTY
LABoR oF l~ovE
M
NoTES}
lex Shear (SFoo) has
had front-row seats
to two very different
phenomena united
by the fanatic zeal of
their participants.
The first is the Maha Kumbh Mela,
a Hindu festival believed to be the
largest gathering of individuals in
the wOTld; 27 million people made
the pilgrimage to wash away their
sins at the Sangam at Allahabad in
January 2oor. The second is the
National High School Baseball
tournament in Japan, a two-week
contest which draws the rapt
attention of the whole baseballcrazed country every August.
In India, where he recorded
digital sound for the film Take Me to the
River in 2001, Shear worried about being
crushed in the crowds, never quite managed
to get enough to eat, and met a famous yogi
who had been holding his right arm up in
the air for 30 years. "His fingernails were six
inches long," says Shear.
Working on the baseball film, Kokoyakyu, in Japan last summer, Shear ate
sushi, worked long hours, and met
Takashima Kantoku, the most successful
high school baseball coach of all time.
"Many Japanese consider him a living
samurai," says Shear. This time Shear was
producer of the project, with responsibilities in fund-raising, accounting, research,
interviewing, and when it was his turn,
getting everyone lunch.
AB different as the two proj ects and
cultures are, Shear found a common thread
in the power of devotion to bring people
together: "There were some similarities in
that both were types of national fe stivals.
In India we had millions of people from
every possible state, and all these different
cultures were represented. The high school
tournament in Japan is the only national
event like this. It's on TV all day, 24 hours a
day and 20 million people tuned in to watch
opening ceremonies.
Only recently has Shear been able to
devote himself full time to documentary
filmmaking. After graduating from St. John's
in 2000, h e landed a job at a dot. com
company in his hometown of Boston. But
company Projectile Arts . He
helped secure $roo,ooo in grants
from foundations and sponsorship
from United Air Lines. " I like the
creative aspect, working out the
content of the film ," he says.
"And I like the
entrepreneurial aspect, starting
something from scratch, and
against all odds, making
it happen."
Shear has always been a big
baseball fan . "I felt there was ver y
little known in the U.S. about
Japanese baseball and it could be
a great way to learn about a very
mysterious culture. It's a filmmaker' s dream: passion, history,
culture, youth, sports- it really
has it all," he says
The crew interviewed players, coaches,
cheerleaders , and fans, and filmed some of
the most intensely played baseball Shear has
ever seen. The work could be grueling; the
t emperature in the stands reached rr7
degrees one day. One of the highlights for
Shear was meeting Hidcki Matsui,
who earned the nickname " Godzilla" in
Japan before going on to become a N.Y. Yankees star.
Immersion in such fanatical national
fervor gave Shear a lot to think about. "As
an American, I don't think I would want my
son to play ro hours ofbaseball a day. It's
kind of like milit ru:y sch ool."
Shear isn't sure he's found his career.
Low-budget documentary filmmaking, he
says, has its pros and cons. "Pros: it's
creatively and intellectually stimulating, you
are your ovm boss, and you get to travel and
meet fascinating people. Cons: no money,
job security, or vacation time; it takes
forever, and it's a nerve-wracking rollercoaster ride .
"To me the satisfaction comes from
having an idea, which a whole bunch of people tell you can't be done , and going out and
proving them ·wrong."
Take Me to the River is showing at film
festivals; Shear hopes it will soon be
distributed nationally. AB for the baseball
film , he and director Ken Eng hope
PBS will pick it up for broadcast after
production is completed this spring. _..
ALEX SHEAR, SECOND FROM RIGHT, SUITED UP
FOR A PRACTIC E GAME.
': .. it:S a nerve-wracking
roller-coaster rzde. "
ALEX SHEAR ( SFOO)
when two of his good friends told him they
were headed to India to make a film , Shear
was desperate to go along. " I took a month
off, paid half my airfare and volunteered to
work for free doing sound," Shear says.
" It was ll1l incredible experience."
A few days after Shear got back to his
promising job in Boston, the company
folded and laid everyone off. He moved to
New York to be involved in post-production
on Take Me to the River, and took a few
temp jobs. After September rr, Shear went
back to Boston to sell ads for a tabloid. "The
stories are short, you can read it on the
train , and the ads get a lot of results, which
h elp ed us all make money."
But the next time his filmaker friend
Kenneth Eng called, Shear was ready to
commit to the project on Japanese baseball.
This time he quit his job and devoted his
sales skills to raising grant money for the
proj ect through the nonprofit production
{ T HE
C o L LEGE .
St. John 's College . W inter 2005
}
�34
{ALUMNI
KARL STUKENBERG (SF) is director of Psychological Services at
Xavier University's Psychology
Department in Cincinnati, Ohio.
He is also a tenured faculty
member in analytic psychology.
As CRAZY AS IT SoUNDS
W
ILLIAM (BRAD) HODGE (SFg2) is working for
the Department of State, managing security
issues for U.S. embassies in almost a dozen
countries. "It's fun, challenging, gets me
traveling all over the world, and reminds me
of one thing I remember from the St. John's program, 'That
which doesn't kill us makes us stronger,'" he writes. ""When
that is not challenging enough, I volunteer as a police officer
with the Washington, D.C., police department. Yeah, it's as
crazy as it sounds."+
cows changing pastures while
visiting LYNNE GATELY (A) in
Randolph Center, Vt., where
Lynne is a librarian. Lynne and
her husband, David, run a dairy
farm and a maple sugar business.
Judy also visited KEITH HARRISON (SF) at his home in New
Hampshire. Keith teaches law at
Franklin Peirce Law School. Judy
has been enduring Minnesota
weather for more than six years
now and is longing for a temperate climate '-vith mountains.
Anyone with job leads in New
Mexico, please contact Judy!
ELIZABETH KOCSIS (A) has retired
to a "hobby farm in north central
West Virginia (my husband,
Mike Kingston's, idea) where we
home-school our two boys
Steven (13) and Frank (g). I'm
active in the inclusive state,..vide
home-schooling organization
(wvhea.org), which recently
(2003) celebrated a political
victory in the state legislatureelimination of a rule requiring
home-schooling parents to have a
college degree to home-school
high-school-age children.
}ULIA PERKINS (A) writes: "My
daughter, MARGARET HENNESSEY,
joined the class of ' o8 in
Annapolis this year, adding to a
bunch of alumni children in
Annapolis now: Emma Plaut,
Ao7, daughter of Richard Plaut
(A77) and Carol Katrina (A7g);
and Bekah Ross, daughter of
Steve (A78); and Jessie Perry,
1982
PATTI NOGALES (A) recently
started her second year as an
assistant professor of philosophy
at California State University in
Sacramento. "The kids and I are
finding that Northern California
has some advantages. I would
love to hear from classmates."
Ao8, daughter of Steve Perry
(A78). Maybe there are others?"
1979
GERALDINE M. KLINE (SF) was
recently elected to a six-year term
of provincial leadership for the
Sinsinawa Dominicans in San
Antonio, Texas.
DANTE BERETTA (A) is teaching
biblical Greek at St. Mary's
Seminary and has been teaching
Latin at Garrison Forest School
since 1985.
ELIZABETH JENNY (SF) says:
"Greetings to fellow alumni! I am
getting a lot of enjoyment from
my alumni chapter. My family
and I are doing well in Colorado.
I invite you to see my work at
http:/ /artist.bldr.net."
1981
ROBBYN JACKSON (A) has a
"great new job as chief of
Cultural Resources and Museum
Management at San Francisco
Maritime National Historical
Park (check out the park at
www.nps.govI safr)."
CoLLEGE.
STANLEY SCHIFf (SF) has retired
after 14 years teaching at Sierra
Vista Junior High.
DAVID WEITZEL (A) married
Allison Hornvag in the fall of
~woo, after Dave had finished his
law degree at Catholic University
that spring. They welcomed
William Kenneth's arrival in
October 2002.
1980
{ TH E
{ALUMNI
NoTEs}
DAMON ELLINGSTON (A) is getting
a Ph.D . in physics at the University of Maryland College Park.
MARY (PUTNICK) GARNER (A) is
in her second year at Episcopal
Divinity School and a postulant
for the priesthood. Spouse
GEOFF (A86) is the academic
dean at the Naval Justice School
in Newport, R.I.
CHRISTINE GOWDY-}AEHNIG (A)
and her husband, Mark, recently
moved to Decorah, Iowa, and are
looking forward to living in a
St. fohn 's College. Winter 2005
}
college town of over 8,ooo
(six times larger than Preston!).
Their eldest child, Alexandra,
recently left for Hamline University in St. Paul. "It's been a year
of changes for us," she writes.
TRISHAA. HoWELL (SF) is
pleased to announce the
publication of her newest book,
a personal growth/self-help title,
The Journeying Workbook:
Unleash Your Inner Power.
Trisha would love to hear from
former classmates and can be
reached at Trisha@HowellCanyonPress.com.
1989
}ACK EGGLESTON (A) and EMMA
MORTON EGGLESTON (SFgo)
write: "We have moved back to
our home state ofVirginia after
many years of studying and
working elsewhere. I am working
as a hydrologist for the U.S.
Geological Survey in Richmond,
Va. Emma is doing a fellowship in
endocrinology at the University
ofVirginia Medical Center. We
have three children ages 3-9 and
are living in an old farmhouse
near the mountains.
"Hello friends!" writes KYRA
LYNN ESBORG (SF). "I live in
San Francisco and share intuitive
healing practices and stress
management as my business.
My St. John's experience
enhances every day. I am a wave
diver in the ocean waters near my
home, and enjoying life."
LINDA HAMM GREZ (A) is thrilled
to announce the birth of her first
baby, Anna Helene Grez, born
on Sept. 30, 2004-the week
Mt. St. Helens erupted (hence
Anna's middle name).
NINDA LETAW (A) reports that she
is the proud owner of Charlotte's
Home Cooking, a personal chef
service in Raleigh, N.C.
She would love to hear from
classmates.
1990
REV. GERARD THOMAS SPARACO
(A) is living in Little Valley, N.Y.
"It would be nice to hear from
people," he says.
}ONATHANYING (A) is a Ph.D. student in the School oflndustrial
and Labor Relations at Cornell
University in Ithaca, N.Y.
1991
FATHERKEvlNLIXEYL.C. (SF), a
priest of the Congregation of
Legionaries of Christ, is involved
in establishing the new Church
and Sports department within
the Pontifical Council of Lay
people as announced by the
Vatican in August 2004.
From CATHERINE BARRIER (A)
and}IMDUGAN (Ag3): "We'd like
to announce the birth of Lucy
Eleanor Dugan on December 10,
2004, in Los Angeles. We are, of
course, convinced she is the most
beautiful and smartest baby in
the world. We just hope we can
keep up. If anyone is rash enough
to ask for pictures, they can
contact us at ccb@
mnemonides.net! "
BONNIE FORBIS (AGI) recently
graduated as a certified nurse
midwife from the Yale School of
Nursing. She lives in Chicago
with her daughter, Meaghan,
age g.
1995
1993
CHRIS GRAM (A) has just started
in practice as a vascular surgeon
in Decatur, Ill. "We bought a
great house on a lake and our
daughter is two-and-a-half and
doing very well."
"I'm keeping very busy," writes
JANE McMANUs (A). "Not only
will I b e an adjunct professor at
the Columbia Graduate School of
Journalism this semester, but
Steve and I had our second little
girl, Charlotte Mason, on August
28. Big sister Jean just calls her
'New Baby.' I can be reached at
janesports@hotmail.com. Any
Johnnies wanting to know more
about J-school should drop me
a note."
1994
LEAH MuLHOLLAND AucKENTHALER (A) writes, "My husband,
Ben, and I welcomed a son on
June 10. Jonathan Titus Auckenthaler completes our family, '"lith
Nicholas Alan, 2, and Reggie
Pit-Shephard, 8. I always wanted
three boys. We moved from
Brooklyn to Minneapolis three
weeks after I delivered Nicholas.
Ben got a job in financ e here
working for American Express.
Not bad for a jazz drummer.
"Anyone interested in catching
up (Eddie, Matthew, Chad,
Johnnie, Janice , et. al.), please
e-mail me at leaha@
earthlink.net. And any of you
Minn./St. Paul peeps (Paul,
Amie, Muneet), let's have
a thing!"
{ THE
CoLLEGE.
35
NoTES}
" I am living the good life in
sunny Phoenix, Ariz .," writes
ALEX GOLDSTEIN (SF). "I own a
real estate business, and way
more wine and cigars than any
human should possess. Any
Johnnies in the area who want to
drink, smoke, or talk smack, call
me (602-405-9961). Best wishes
to all my friends with whom I've
lost touch ages ago ... "
Greetings from VERONICA
GVENTSADZE (AGI): "After some
four years of teaching the humanities at a university, I am back to
being a student, this time in veterinary medicine. I have no
regrets and am enjoying this new
experience immensely, and while
I have no doubt that I have made
the right choice , my liberal arts
background will always be there
to help me along. So four years
down the road I will be the
'philosopher-vet,' for what that's
worth . I would love to hear from
my classmates and from any of
those who remember me or who,
like me, are in the midst of
switching careers. But most of all
I want to thank Mr. John Verdi for
starting me on this great American adventure some I I years ago,
and I have a question for him
about Nietzsche. It's a long one,
so I won't take up any more space
here. "
}ULIA}. KELLY (A) sends in her
first update since leaving
Annapolis: "After graduation, I
attended the Maine Photo Workshops for six months , contributing to my decision to attend the
Savannah College of Art and
Design in order to get an MFA in
photography. After completing
that program, I worked for three
years with a commercial photographer in Savannah. Convinced I
could make a better living selling
real es tate for my mother's large
firm, I did that for several years
St. fohn 's College. Winter 2 005
}
before meeting my fiance, and
now am planning a wedding in
early 2005, along with a move to
Pensacola, Fla. I hope to get back
into photography when I settle
in, though I may end up shooting
more images on the road than of
weddings, as he is a musician and
travels across the country. I'll
keep you posted! If a band called
the CodeTalkers ever plays in
yow· town, please come out! My
fiance is the banjo player!"
MIKE LAYNE (SF) and family are
still in Barrow, Alaska. "Our
daughter, Audrey Rae, will turn
three in February. And we are
expecting a second child, a boy,
in March. Feel free to e-mail me
at michael.layne@northslope.org."
1996
HEATHER POOL (SF) is a firstyear graduate student at the
University ofWashington in the
political science department.
She's currently a teaching
assistant for Intra to Political
Theory. " I will likely be doing
political theory as my first field,''
she writes.
1997
Major news from }EHANNE
DUBROW(A): "}EREMYSCHAUB
(A) and I are engaged to be
married. The big day is set for the
end ofJuly 2005, in Washington.
Jeremy is currently stationed out
of Norfolk, Va. I'm in my second
year of a Ph.D. program in
creative WJ.'iting at the University
ofNebraska-Lincoln, where
I'm also teaching and working
on the editorial staff of Prairie
Schooner. This past summer, I
spent two months in Oswiecim
(Auschwitz), Poland, where I codesigned and created an exhibit
�.
-,
, -- - - -- ---------------------------- -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - -- - - - - -- -- --- - -- -- -- -- -- -- - - -- -- -- - - -- -- - - -
g6
{ALUMNI
THE OTHER. SIDE OF THE WALL
Navy PilotandAuthor Ross Mackenzie, AGio2
BY RosEMARY HARTY
ssigned to teach English at
the Naval Academy five
years ago, Ross Mackenzie
(AGio2) crossed the street
to see what the little college
on the other side of the wall
had to offer. AN avy pilot and 1994 graduate
of the academy, he had been invited back to
teach at his alma mater. "I went to visit a
seminar at St. John's and literally ran into a
good friend of mine from the academy
[Mason New, AGIOI] who I hadn't seen in
years," he says. "He told me, 'man, you're
going to love it.' "
An English major at the academy,
Mackenzie's passion for language and
literature has always had a
rival in his passion for
flying. Mter seeing Top
Gun as a teen-ager, he
went on to earn a private
pilot's license and set his
sights on one day flying
the Navy's fastest jets.
"Take a dark and stormy
night and land a jet on the
back of a ship that's pitching and rolling- that really
appealed to me."
Mackenzie followed his
older brother, Alec, into
the Naval Academy. He
did well enough to secure
a coveted aviation billet,
but had to wait to begin
flight school and spent a
semester as an English
instructor at the academy. When he was
called to flight school, Mackenzie still
expected to fly jets-until a helicopter ride
changed his mind. "I was sold on just that
one flight."
Flying helicopters has its own challenges,
he adds . "You know where it is and what
you have to do to get the aircraft on the
ground before a catastrophic failure,"
he explains.
Mter earning his wings, Mackenzie was
stationed in San Diego and deployed twice
to the Persian Gulf. When he was asked to
come back to teach English at the Naval
Academy, he needed to begin a graduate
degree program, and St. John's was the logical choice. He was a] so eager to fill in gaps
in his education. ''I'm proud of myNaval
Academy degree, but as an English major,
I was frustrated that I didn't end up
reading some of the things I thought
were important."
The texts Mackenzie read at St. John's
quickly found their way onto his syllabus at
the academy; midshipmen in his first-year
English class were assigned the Odyssey
and the Canterbury Tales. "I probably had
only a handful of English majors in my
classes, but I was determined to get those
guys excited about the literature," he says.
At St. John's, Mackenzie was invigorated
by the lively discussions in his classes. "The
thing about the Graduate Insthute that J
Ross MACKENZIE'S LOVE FOR BOOKS COMPETES
WITH A LOVE FOR F LYING.
find so remarkable is that it brings people
from such vastly different backgrounds to
share the same great works. Everyone
brings their own life experiences with them
to the table."
Mackenzie was enrolled in the literature
segment and discussing the Iliad when the
terrorist attacks took place on September
n; he was one of two students with military
experience in his seminar. "You can read in
these great books when and why it's appropriate to put people in harm's way. I've
been there and I was able to say 'this is what
I believe in.' "
{ THE
CoLL E GE.
{ALUMNI
PROFILE}
St. John's College . Winter 200.5}
Now stationed in Jacksonville, Fla.,
where he is a full-time pilot in a reserve
squadron, Mackenzie flies Seahawk
helicopters, often on counter-drug missions off the Florida coast. He's married to
his high-school sweetheart, Elizabeth, and
they have two boys: Stuart, 3, and
Cameron, I.
Last year, he put his liberal arts and
Navy backgrounds together to take over a
project his father, Ross Mackenzie,
launched shortly after Mackenzie's brother ·
graduated from the academy. "My father's
a newspaper writer who was frustrated by
having two sons in the Naval Academy and
listening to them talk-he always wanted
to know what was going
on-and he decided he
could tell other parents
about it."
BriefPoints (Naval
Institute Press, 2004) was
originally published in
1993 and revised n Igg6.
Much information in the
book was dated, and g/n
had brought changes to
the academy. A major
revision was needed, and
the publisher gave
Mackenzie the job. "I did
interviews with everyone
from midshipmen to academic deans to athletic
department personnel to
find out what really makes
the Naval Academy tick."
Mackenzie observes that family
members of middies are proud and excited
about their children entering the Naval
Academy, but they can be perplexed by the
military culture. A glossm·y of terms that
quickly become part of every plebe's
vocabulary-Mackenzie calls it "Midspeak"-is an important part of the book.
Parents aren't always aware of what their
midshipmen endure in terms of academic
and physical challenges. In his introduction, Mackenzie tells parents that the
academy-like St. John's-isn't for every
student. "As important as their advice is,
their support and understanding are even
more important," he says.~
of art and poetry, 'The Lost
Shabbos: the Jews ofOswiecim.'
Two ofmypoemswere recently
published in The Hudson
Review. And, staying true to
my St. John's roots, I'm still
translating poetry, at the
moment, sections from the
19th-century Polish epic, Pan
Tadeusz, by Adam Mickiewicz,
which is nothing if not obscure."
1998
CINDY LUTZ (A) and VINCENT
BAKER (Ags) were married on
October 10, 2004, in Frederick,
Md., nearly IO years after they
first met by the mailboxes in the
Coffee Shop. Johnnies in attendance included PAMELA BERGSON
(Agg), JosH EMMONS (Agg)and
the also newly-married MARISA
Jo and BILL ERSKINE (A97).
"We'd love to hear from any
friends in the D.C. Metro Area:
cinderlou@peoplepc.com."
1999
MELISSA "MISSY" PHIFER (SF)
writes: "After completing my
service in the Peace Corps in
Haiti in 2002, I worked in
various odd jobs until I began
graduate school at Temple
University in Philadelphia.
Currently I am working at John
Bartram High School teaching
biology and working on my
Master's ofEducation to be
completed soon! I would love to
hear from any of my former
classmates- send me an e-mail at
mphifeno@aol.com and let me
know what you're up to. I hope
all ofyou are well!"
2000
KARINA I-lEAN (A) will receive
her master of fine arts in drawing
from New Mexico State University
in Las Cruces, N.M. , this May. For
the time being, she's keeping busy
with exhibitions and teaching.
"Will be relocating to southern
Colorado soon-I'll be hiding in
the mountains, making artwork,
and protesting the Bush dynasty if
anyone would like to join meyou're always welcome: karinahean@hotmail.com."
"It was a long road similar to the
one described at the beginning of
the Inferno, but after nine years I
have reached the end of a long
road," writes CHRISTOPHER
VAUGHAN (A). "A journcy that
took me from the University of
Alaska and the wilds of the great
Northwest to the warmth of
Florida at Flagler College is now
history. I have graduated from
college at last!"
NoTEs}
37
certification training. She was
recently in London and Hawaii,
and is heading to France and
Mexico shortly! She would love
to hear from recent graduates
and alumni in the New York area.
Mter traveling to the far reaches
of Thailand and New Zealand
together, ANDREW RANSON and
MARTHA ROGERS (both AGI)
were married June 26, 2004, in
Annapolis . Martha is continuing
her studies in holistic healing
while Andrew is teaching high
school social studies and English
in Baltimore County. They have
found marriage to be greater
than they ever expected and are
looking forward to their next trip
abroad as husband and wife.
2002
JAMES GILMORE (A) is studying
phifosophy at Johns Hopkins
University. "My e-mail is jamesfgilmore@gmail.com, and it
would be great to hear from any
Johnnies, especially members of
the class of 2.002.."
CHARLES GREEN (AGI) writes:
"After completing my coursework as an English literature
Ph.D. candidate at Drew
University, fhave moved back to
Annapolis to prepare for my
comprehensive exams. I look
forward to getting to know the
city and the college again, as well
as seeing alumni old and new."
"As of August 2004, I am living
in San Jose, Calif. , passing on the
love ofliberal arts by teaching
general curriculum to eager
fifth-graders," writes MEGAN
MAxwELL-SMiTH (A). "My experience is, so far, quite rewarding.
I am at a very well-run school
peopled by bright students and
dedicated staff. I would love to
hear from anyone inclined to get
in touch: megan.maxwellsmith@sbc.global.net."
}USTINNAYLOR (A) and DILLON
WRIGHT-FITZGERALD (Aos) were
married on June :12, 2004, in
2001
}OSHUA VAN DONGE (SF) is still
"slogging away" at the University ofWashington's graduate
program in architecture.
"I've spent this year in
St. Michael's, Md., serving an
apprenticeship in wooden boat
building," ANNE NEEDHAM (A)
wrote last summer. "I'm now off
to Naguabo, Puerto Rico, for a
few months to do some house
repair and child care for my
brother and his family. After
that, if you know anyone who has
a wooden boat that needs work
(i.e., anyone who has a wooden
boat), please let me know."
SYLVAINE RAMECKERS (A) is still
working for Dateline NBC and
currently completing diver
{T
H E
Co
L L E GE .
A STRONG FouNDATION
orne things just seem meant to be, as AURORA
CASSELLS (Ao4) writes: "My sister, boyfriend, and
I, all of the most recently graduated class from
Annapolis, are moving into a cute little house in the
beautiful town of Shepherdstown, W.V., which my
sister, PROSE, is buying. This itself is exciting news,
since buying a house is considered a big step in establishing
oneself, but the real reason for writing in about it is of course
much more personal and familiar and Johnnie-based.
"Mter our offer on the house had already been accepted and
Prose was touring the outside of the house another time, she
found a remarkable, unbelievable sign that this was the right
house: It seems that someone had taken a finger to the concrete
foundation for the newer part of the house at the back while it
was still wet and written in 4-inch-high letters, underlined:
The Program. So, three recent graduates are all moving into a
house built on the foundation of the Program!
"We also discovered that it was obviously meant for Johnnies
from the Annapolis campus, since on the newly built back deck
there was an old lawn croquet stake! Already in love with the
little house and its great location, it was truly welcoming to find
such friendly reminders of St. John's. " ~
St. John 's College . W in ter 2005
}
�{ALUMNI
JoHNNIE
VOICES}
B. ATHENS
Athletic~ Aeschyl~
ABOUT THE CATS
and Spzderman
BY STEPHEN CoNN (SFg8)
first came to Athens I I years ago,
a post-high school gift from and
with my parents. Mom wanted
to give me an introduction to
classical culture before I headed to
St.John's. Several years and jobs
later, armed with only my Spiderman 2
backpack and a whole lot of can-d?, I
returned to Athens for the Olymp1cs.
I checked in at my hostel, the Hotel
Zorba on Victoria Square. Yannis the bellboy was pleasant enough, the bunk area
only had one unidentifiable odor, and the
toilets flushed as long as you didn't put
toilet paper in them. I learned .to j?urney
on the Piraeus-Kifissia metro hne m order
to get to the different stadiums. Fierybrowed Greek men pondered my Spidey
backpack, while old ladies crossed themselves every time we passed a church.
Many events took place at the aptly
named Olympic Stadium to the north,
where people walked under va~t white
archways while Greeks sat on lifeguard
chairs and announced on bullhorns,
"Parakalo [please] we are welcoming you
to the Olympic Games. Water polo is on
the right."
gymnasts happened to take an extra step
when I shoot-coincidence!
The Acropolis! Don't think I passed up
the ancient stuff, folks. The next day I
began the hike to that fount of democracy,
The Temple ofNike . To the east of~he
main structure, slightly down the ndge,
are the remains of the Theater of
Dionysus, where Sophocles and Aeschylus
received their first performances.
In honor of the occasion, I pulled out
my copy of Lattimore's Aeschylus, and
recited a bit of The Persians. A few cats
living among the pillars gathere.d in .
audience, and I felt the Apolloman veil
had been suitably rent.
And the women! Many a time I would
approach a sellers' booth and say, "excuse
me, would you have a ticketfor. .. good
God!, I considered asking one of these
Hellenic beauties for a night on the town,
but reflecting on the Medea-like anger of
most of my past dates, I opted for another
evening of Amstel Lights at t~e Zorba.
After sessions of table tenms and boxing between various breakaway republics,
it was time to head home. I brought an
American flag with me on the flight. Not a
huge hit in Athens, but the bu~z - ct~t
customs officer in Atlanta notlced lt as
he stamped my passport.
"You bring that to the Games?' he
smiled.
"Yessir."
"You must have waved that quite a bit,"
he said with a grin .
"Well, if we can put a chimp in the
White House then we should certainly be
able to wave CHd Glory once and a while."
Okay, I didn't exactly say this. ~ut ifye
Johnnies old and new want to get m t~uch
with the Mediterranean source, then JUSt
put those terrorist fears away ~nd tell
the ticket agent, "I want two t1ckets to
paradise."-'$-
But it was gymnastics I was after, my
old sport, many beers ago. I sat down
among sad-eyed Eastern-block:r~ to
watch one of the women's prehmmary
sessions. "GO KA-TY!" cried an
anguished Englishman into my left
eardrum. The Chinese girls tended to fall
off the beam and stumble a lot. "No flash
photos, sir," the usher chided me. So the
(SF or) writes, "For the most
part, my life is quiet and full of cats. If they keep
multiplying I might make crazy cat woman status
at the early age of 35· I live with ANDRE\V SMITH
and ISLA PINELO (both SFo3) . CAROLINE KN~P
(SF or) recently moved from our house to a qu~et
neighborhood and lives in a beautiful garden. I'm su~·e she m.lsses
h . g her bedroom windows rattle when the cars dnve bywlth
t : : ;bass all the way up . If anyone is in or passing through the
Berkeley area, give me a holler." -$-EBEKKA SHUGARS
Millvi1le, Penn. The Naylors now
live in Wilmington, Del., where
Justin teaches at Nativity
Preparatory School.
2003
Thorn Barry and MEG EISENHAUER (A) were married at
St. John's College in Annapolis
on July 31 , 20o4. " Many thanks
to everyone at the Annapolis
campus who helped us to make
this possible ," Meg writes.
(A) is moving to
Italy to study gastronomy at the
new Universita di Scienze Gastronomiche (www.unisg.it/eng).
He received a full scholarship.
"Drop me a line at aaron .foster
@gmail.com. I will be in
Pollenzo, a small town outside of
Bra, in Cuneo, Piedmont."
AARON FOSTER
biology.utah.edu or
bugle song@ juno. com."
RACHEL (ROCCIA) SULLIVAN (A)
Wl·ites with an update on what she
and husband MICHAEL SULLIVAi~
(Ao2) have been up to since
graduation. "As many already
know, we were married a week
after graduating from St. John's.
We then moved to Washington,
D.C., so that I could take pre-med
classes at the University of Maryland, and so that Michael could
pursue his Ph.D. in Philosophy
(particularly in medieval scholastics, which should come as no
surprise!) at Catholic University.
He is now in his third year. In May
of this year I gave birth to a
daughter, Clare Veritas Sullivan,
who is now a fat and happy little
five-month-old. We bought a
house in Silver Spring, Md., and
I've begun studying medicine
at the Uniformed Services University, which is located right
.
'
across the street from NIH in
Bethesda. I'm a commissioned
ofii.cer in the U.S. Army and learning to be an "Army Doc." I go to
school with several ex-midshipmen from the Naval Academy who
think it's bizarre that a Johnnie
would choose to join the military,
but the idea of practicing "Good
Medicine In Bad Places," as our
motto goes, is really exciting and
led me to choose this school over a
few more prestigious ones that
offered me slots. I found that
medical schools were surprisingly
receptive to me as a St. John's
student, and would love to talk to
and encourage anyone interested
in applying: I can be reached at
rmrsullivan@hotmail.com. I'm
also happy to report that
Michael's brother RANDALL (Ao4)
has joined the Dominican order
of priests, and has started his
novitiate . He's enjoying himself
immensely and has taken the new
name of Ezra. In closing I'd like to
say hello to all my old pals, to offer
my spare room to anyone who has
a reason to be in D.C., and to take
this opportunity to encourage
BEN FREY (A02,) and GABRIELA
HURWITZ (Ao2) to call me back!"
CoLLE G E .
St. fohn's College . Winter 2005
}
2004
LAURAA:NNEMANGUM (A)
married Michael Moore on
June 5, 2004·.
PAUL McLAIN (SFGI) was
awarded a scholarship to attend
Yale University Divinity School in
New Haven, Conn. He completed
an intensive Koine Greek class
this summer and is settling into
his first of three years' work
toward a Master of Divinity
degree. Ruthie, his wife , is office
manager ofHistoRX, a medical
research firm affiliated with Yale.
She now serves her patented
Thursday Night GI Gathering
Homemade Goodies to "Divvies"
instead ofJohnnies. They have
been blessed with a rent-free
four-bedroom parsonage provided
by St. Andrew's United Methodist
Church, where they work part
time. Johnnies are welcome to
stay when making New England
pilgrimages. Contact
pkmclain@comcast.net if
you are headed their way or if
you would just like to keep
in touch. -$-
NATASHA VERl\iAAK (A)
writes: "I just survived my first
quarter of graduate school in
the materials science and
engineering department at
the University of California,
Santa Barbara ...woah!
Visitors welcome."
ERIN HANLON (SF) Wl·ites: "I
entered the University of Utah
this fall as a Ph.D. student in the
biology department. I am
studying plant ecology with an
emphasis on the impacts of the
drought and climate change. I
would be interested in hearing
from any Johnnies in the Salt Lake
area, whether they live here or are
just passing through. I can be
reached al either hanlon@
WHAT's UP?
The College wants to hear from
you. Call ns, write us, e-mail us.
Let your classmates know what
you're doing. The next issue
will be published in May;
deadline for the alumni notes
section is March IS.
IN ANNAPOLIS:
Tlz e College Magazine
St. John's College, P.O. Box 28oo
Annapolis, MD 2I404;
rosemary.harty@sjca. edu
IN SANTA FE:
The College Magazine
St. John's College
Communications Office
n6o Camino Cruz Blanca
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599;
alumni@sjcsf.edu
STEPHEN CONN WAVED THE FLAG AND
RECITED THE PERSIA NS IN GREECE.
{ TH E
39
{OBITUARIES}
CLARE SULLIVAN IS GOING PLACES.
{ THE
CoLLEG E .
St. John 's College. Winter 20 0 5}
�4I
{OBITUARIES}
{OBITUARIES}
REMEMBERING
MISS LEONARD
At a memorial service in October, former
St. John's tutor and Assistant Dean
Barbara Leonard (HAss) was remembered
as a star athlete with a zeal for competition, a scientist with an inquisitive mind,
and an able administrator with a skill for
strongly-worded memos. Mostly, she was
remembered as a good friend.
Miss Leonard died last August in
Oberlin, Ohio. Her health had been
failing for several years. She
had retired from the college
in rg87 after serving as
assistant dean and tutor for
36 years, but continued to
serve the college as a
member of its Board of
Visitors and Governors for
several more years.
In the midst of Homecoming festivities, alumni,
tutors, and former colleagues of Miss Leonard's
gathered in Francis Scott
Key Auditorium to share
their memories of a strongwilled woman with a great
sense ofhumor. And
although she was dean of
women for just one year
before her title became
assistant dean, Miss
Leonard remained a role
model, confidante, and
friend to generations of
women at the college.
Among them was Anita
Kronsberg (A7g), who read
from an account of Miss
Leonard's life.
Born and reared in Oberlin in what
she described as something of an "idyllic
childhood," Miss Leonard earned a
bachelor's degree at Oberlin College
and master's and doctoral degrees in
zoology at the University of Rochester.
She conducted research in histology at
Yale Medical School before becoming a
visiting lecturer at Oberlin. Before
coming to St.John's, she taught zoology
at Smith College. Her willingness to work
with men and to compete in a maledominated field had roots in her love for
"She came with us_,
J'he read the bookJ' with
us_, and J'he learned
at our rate. "
from my colleagues, male students
resented my presence when I arrived on
campus," she later recalled. "In fact,
prior to my appointment, it was a mass
protest of the then all-male student body
against the admission of women students
that convinced the college leadership they
needed to hire a female tutor and assistant
dean. These students would constantly
try to catch me off guard,
so I pretended nothing
fazed me."
The following year, when
the assistant dean for men
took a sabbatical, Miss
Leonard worked with both
male and female students.
From that point on, she
said, "I never weaned those
boys from me."
In the early rg6os, Miss
Leonard was a Fulbright
lecturer in India. She was
named an honorary faculty
member of Lady Doak
College and The American
College, both in Madurai,
India. When she retired in
rg87, the students dedicated
the yearbook to her:
"Though gruff in manner,
she has an eye for the
humorous and is quick
with a quip, delighting in
repartee," theywrote.
"She is also judicious in her
advice and careful to keep a
confidence . In her position
she has heard many."
Tutor emeritus Ben Milner (HAg7) recalled that after their first
meeting,
he thought Miss Leonard to be a "retiring
motherly sort. That was a Jirst impression
-and one I would discover in need of
correction," he said.
When Mr. Miln er began his new post,
Edward Sparrow (HAg3), dean at the
time, advised Mr. Milner about the
"importance of cooperating with Barbara
Leonard." "And to reinforce the point
smilingly, he asked if I was familiar with
her habit of firing off sharply critical
BARBARA BRUNNER KiEBLER (ASS)
Mrss LEONARD PREFERRED THE CoFFEE SHOP
To HER McDowELL HALL OFFICE.
sports: As a third-grader she was the
catcher on a boys' softball team.
Through colleagues in Oberlin,
President Richard Weigle (HJ4g) found
Miss Leonard and brought her to
St. John's to shepherd the first 25 women
to attend the college. Miss Leonard had to
win over the male students.
"Although I encountered no resistance
{ 'I'
HE
CoLLEGE .
St. fohn's College. Winter 2005
}
memoranda and letters to
various colleagues including
the dean and president of the
college," Mr. Milner added.
In her time at the college,
Miss Leonard became "the
first among equals," and "her
voice was always respected
and often decisive," he said.
"I think that it was universally acknowledged that she
had a love affair with the
students," Mr. Milner said.
"It was mutual and it was fun.
Barbara enjoyed nothing
more than a good joke, a
hardy laugh, and she had a
lot of company in this with
students and staff as well. "
Tutor emeritus Malcolm
Wyatt (HAo3) shared
McDowell 13 with Miss
Leonard in the mid-rg8os.
"She was very fond of the
students," Mr. Wyatt said.
"She maintained close
friendships with successive
generations characterized by sympathy,
warmth, acrostic humor. And the source
of that acrostic humor had a certain skepticism about it that sharpened her judgment but didn't keep her from being
attached to the student body and hence,
[she had] a very accurate perception of
what life was like at the college from day
to day."
A member of the first class of women
to graduate, Barbara Brunner Kiebler
(class of 1955), said Miss Leonard was a
genuine member of that class even before
the Alumni Association made her an
honorary alumna. "She came with us,
she read the books with us, and she
learned at our rate," Mrs. Kiebler said.
With all the new rules the college
adopted to keep men and women
separate-and with the inevitable bending
and breaking of those rules-Miss Leonard
was "good-natured and flexible" even as
the president and dean fretted over such
matters. "She was sanguine about the
relationship of the sexes-after all she was
BARBARA LEONARD BECAME AN HONORARY
MEMBER OF THE CLASS OF
I955
UPON HER
RETIREMENT, BUT LONG BEFORE, THE FIRST
CLASS OF WOMEN CONSIDERED HER ONE OF
THEIR OWN.
a biologist by training, she knew the
inevitability of the relationship," she said.
Miss Leonard could usually be found in
the Coffee Shop , but she spent a great
deal of time on the playing fields as well,
Mrs. Kiebler noted. "Barbara broke the
sports barrier for women at the college.
There were no sports here for women
except badminton and Ping-Pong.
Barbara h erself integrated the softball
team ... she was a whale of a softball
pitcher and she won her St. John's blazer
for softball. Whenever I came back to the
college at Homecoming, I would see her
in the blue blazer and a pleated skirt, her
school uniform. She wore it proudly."
When Mrs. Kiebler brought her
daughter, Amy Oosterhout (A82) to the
{ T HE
CoLLEGE.
college, she was pleased to leave
her in the capable hands of
Barbara Leonard. "Barbara told
me how pleased she was to
have at St. John's the children
of her girls. I never heard her
call us that before, but I guess
that's what we were. She
promised us she'd look after
Amy, and she did."
Two members of the Annapolis
class ofrg8o, Didrik Schanche
and Ann Schanche Ferro came to
the college as Febbies, leaving
their parents in Cairo, Egypt, for
a college halfway around the
world. In Miss Leonard, the
sisters found " landfall and a very
solid one in a sea of words and
great books." Like many
students, they forged a life long
friendship with Miss Leonard.
"Ann and I, being homeless,
were often around campus or at
least Annapolis during the
holiday because Egypt was a little
too far for a three-day weekend,"
Miss Schanche said. '"Miss Leonard would
periodically invite us up to her apartment
over the infirmary for a glass of wine and
some conversation and just to help us feel
that we did have a bit of home away from
home." Ms. Leonard also was a stickler
for certain thing, Ms. Schanche noted.
One in particular was the correct pronunciation of the word' dissect.'
"Most people, me included, pronounced
it 'dye-sect,'" she said. "The correct
pronunciation according to Ms. Leonard is
' dis-sect' and she drilled that one in. I am
now an editor and every time I try to
correct someone's pronunciation of that,
I think of Ms. Leonard."
"She was there for us," Mrs. Ferro
added. "And so in death she stays with us,
too. She is locked in our psyches, in her
flat-soled sneakers, her blue skirtconsistent, calm, humorous, solid, and
generous to a fault with her support and
guidance for us students. These are lifelong gifts that Barb am gave us and that
she expects us to share with others."*'
St. fohn's College. Winter 2005}
�{OBITUARIES}
BEATE
RuHM voN
{OBITUARIES}
0PPEN
Beate Ruhm von Oppen (HAor), St. John's
tutor emerita, died in August at her
home in Annapolis.
Miss von Oppen left Germany as a teenager to complete her secondary education
in Holland, moved to England and earned
a bachelor's degree at the University of
Birmingham. She worked in political
intelligence for the British Foreign Office.
Mter the war, she took a job with the
American Historical Association in
Alexandria, Va., when she learned from a
co-worker about an opening at St. John's.
She taught at the college for nearly
43 years, with an occasional break to write
books, conduct research, and serve as a
visiting professor at other colleges.
Her interest in the role of religion in
the German resistance led her to work
before starting college in England:
Letters to Freya, a collection ofletters
written by Helmuth James von Moltke,
a legal adviser to the Third Reich, to his
wife, Freya. Von Moltke worked within
the regime to undermine the Nazis
before he was captured and executed.
In 1989, the German edition of the book
won the Scholl Prize, a prestigious literary
award in Germany.
At a memorial service last
September, Miss von Oppen
was remembered as a careful
and diligent scholar, a lover of
music (particularly Bach) and
books, and a beloved sister,
sister-in-law, and aunt.
Several who spoke at the
service referred to an essay
called "The Tuning Fork,"
Miss von Oppen's account of
the bewildering change in the
Germany of her youth.
The following is excerpted
from the essay, originally
publishedinHumanitas, the
journal of the George Bell
Institute. Miss von Oppen
wrote of her attempt to go to
Holland, where she hoped to
work before starting college
in England.
crisis at the very tim e when the Hitler
regime created large numbers of refugees
or would-be refugees- trying to keep such
aliens out.
To admit my status as a worker, albeit
unpaid, would have meant being sent back
to the fatherland, with the additional
black mark of having tried to flee it. So I
denied it. The denial was an automatic
reflex. Unfortunately, my response to the
question about my religion was equally
automatic. I said 'Protestant,' having been
baptized at birth according to the
Zwinglian rite and having attended Prates- ·
tant religious instruction at my German
schools, with even a spell of Lutheran
Sunday school thrown in for good measure. It was a mistake. I did have the presence of mind and necessary minutes and
pennies to send a cheery postcard about
my 'good trip' to my Jewish grandmother
in Frankfurt from the Dutch side. I wanted
to reassure her; she had a heart ailment, of
which she died before the year was out.
Now I was put on the next train to
Emmerich, where I was received-not
to say taken into custody- by the Evangelische Balznlzoftmission ... .It felt like a
halfway house on the way to more
serious, more purely political
confinement. Theywere stern
and forbidding and there was
nothing evangelical about them.
There was even a touch of
Nazism. As I was sitting, somewhat disconsolately, in a dark
reception room, a boy of about
eight came in and sang one of
those Nazi songs-1 don't know
why; perhaps it was just youthful
exuberance. It grated enough to
make me decide to accept no
food from this establishment or
run the risk of having to sit at the
table with these professional
Protestants. My grandmother
had given me enough provender
for the day.
What I did not have was
money, beyond the ten Marks
one was allowed to take out of the
country. When the woman in
"THE TUNING FORK"
It was spring 1936. They took me off the
train after it had crossed the border from
Germany. They asked me for my religionfor while they wanted to protect the Dutch
unemployed from the competition offoreigners, they also wanted to protect the
virtue of young women. I was 17. They
accused me of coming to work in Holland.
I denied it, though they were right. They
had no proof, but I had the burden of
proof. The fact was that I had in the prcvious December passed the examination
given by Oxford for entrance to British
universities. Being penniless and not
wanting to be a burden on the American
uncle who had paid my school fees for the
year that it had taken me to prepare for
that exam, I had gladly accepted the
school's invitation to stay on as unpaid
general dog's body until it was time to go
to England to study, the following October. So I was earning my keep as matron's
assistant, occasional coach or tutor, babysitter, and so on. But these services .. .were
work prohibited by the law or regulations
of the land that was , like most European
countries-struggling with an economic
ALTHOUGH SHE WORKED IN
BRITISH INTELLIGENCE DURING
WoRLD WAR
II, Miss voN 0PPEN
RESISTED BEING CALLED A SPY.
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. John 's College. Winter 2005
}
charge of this Internal Mission house
allowed me to go for a short walk in town,
I could not resist a tuning fork in the
window of a small music shop. I went in
and bought it. My instrument at the time
was the violin, which I played as badly as I
had played the piano and would later play
the oboe. I may have justified the rash
purchase to myself as useful: a violin has
to be tuned and there isn't always a piano
or other instrument present to give the
pitch. It was a modest tuning fork and
cheap, but it depleted my minimal
resources. I probably realized this, yet
probably felt, too, that there was not only
practical but also symbolic value in a
gadget that gave you the true pitch.
Before I went for the walk in the strange
town I had telephoned my school and told
my friends there what had befallen me .
They said they would certify me as a bona
fide pupil- I was taking lessons with the
music master-and get the local police
to put an official endorsement on the
43
'-/1s I was sittin~ somewhat disconsolately;
in a dark reception room~
a boy ofabout eight
came in and sang one
ofthose Nazi songs... "
This meant crossing the Rhine. I boarded
the ferry, paid my last Pfennige to the nice
conductor, and asked him how far from
the landing place on the other side the
railway was. It was a fal.r step, especially
with luggage. He found me a free ride to
the station. This turned out to be a local
butcher, who gave me the seat beside him
in the van, with the carcasses behind us.
He wasn't an anti-Nazi. He sounded like a
Nazi or at least a loyal citizen to the Third
Reich. In the absence of money I gave him
my last German postage stamps and
signed a document acknowledging my
debt to him for the additional small
amount it cost to connect my old rail
ticket with the new stretch from Cleve to
Nijmegen.
So offl went, crossed the frontier without further incident, and reached the
school safely. The tuning fork came in
handy when we played Haydn quartets.
I still have it. Tuning forks don't take up
much space._.
BEATE RuHM VON 0PPEN, THE T UNING FORK
document that would suitably impress the
Dutch border officials. The document duly
arrived by Express mail the next day, but
also a message that the police station had
closed by the time that my friends had got
there and that they had made their statement sound as persuasive as possible without the police back-up. They advised me
not to try the same border crossing again,
from Emmerich to Zevenaar, where I was
now known, but to take another, from
Cleve to Nijmegen, where I wasn't.
JOliN AINSWORTH
economy called Socialism in the Soviet
Union. He is survived by a daughter, Jenny.
JONATHAN AURTHUR
John Edgar Ainsworth, class of1942,
died Sept. 30 following complications
from a stroke. He was a resident of Silver
Spring, Md. Until his retirement in 1984,
Mr. Ainsworth was an atmospheric
physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center, where he was primary designer of
the Pioneer Venus probe.
Mr. Ainsworth pursued many hobbies
including ice skating, sailing, skiing,
camping, windsurfing, hang-gliding, flying
small aircraft, ballroom dancing, and jazz.
He became one of the first students in the
college's New Program when he enrolled at
St. John's in 1938, but he left the college
shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor to
enlist in the Army-Air Force. As the Washington Post reported, Mr. Ainsworth was
sent to the Pacific, and "took with him two
books, both on calculus, and taught himself the discipline while in the military."
Mter returning from the service in 1946,
he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Harvard University.
He is survived by his wife, Anne, and
three children.
Jonathan Aurthur (A68), who wrote a book
about his son Charley's struggles with
mental illness in The Angel and the
Dragon, took his own life in November.
He was 56 and had lived in Santa Monica,
Calif. An account published in the Los
Angeles Times said Mr. Aurthur leaped to
his death from a soo-foot cliff in the Angeles National Forest in Arcadia, Calif. His
body was found Nov. 29. According to the
article, friends said that he was despondent
over several issues.
Mr. Aurthur was profiled in the Winter
2003 issue of The College. The article
described his attempts to understand his
son's illness and to determine if someone
could have found a better way to help
Charley, who committed suicide by
jumping from a freeway overpass.
Mter leaving St. John's, Mr. Aurthur
attended the University of California,
Los Angeles, where he majored in motion
pictures. In the late 1g6os through the
early 198os, he worked as a community
organizer and documentary filmmaker.
He was also the editor of a journal of
political theory called Appeal to Reason
and the author of a book on political
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. .John's College . Winter 2005
ALSO NOTED:
STEPHEN BRAUN (SF84), July 2004
}OliN-DAVID HINDLE HAIIDT (AGI96), Sept. 9,
2004
CHARLES HYSON (class ofr937), March 8,
2004
PERCY KEITH Ill (class ofi949), Jan. 17,
2004
JoHN LOGUE (class of1950), June r, 2004
}oHNMAGIDRE (class ofr946), March 13,
2003
ALAN PIKE (class of1937), Oct. 22, 2004
MR. WILLIAMT. ROBERTS III (class of1951)
ANDREW CAMERON SHERRARD }R. (class of
1941), Nov. 7, 2003
A. ROBERT SMITH (class of1937), June 2,
2004
ROBEitl' SNIBBE (class ofr937), June 8, 2004
}OliN STERRETT (class ofr950), Aug. 14,
2004
RICHARD B. TAYLOR, class of1936
THOMASUSILTON (class of1943), Oct. 15,
2004
VALYS ZILIUS (class of1958), Nov. 14, 2004
}
�~------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------,
44
ALFRED MOLLIN
Alfred M ollin, who died last August in
Philadelphia, was a tutor for seven years in
Annapolis. He later lift the college and
embarked on a career at the Department
ofJustice, where he rose to the position of
senior appellate counsel. Some alumni may
remember him.from his days at the college,
but many more know ofhim.from the Greek
manual used at St. John :S. Tutor emeritus
Robert Williamson (HAo2), who
co-authored the manual, offered this
remembrance at Mr. M ollin 's memorial
service at the college last September:
I first met Alfred Mollin when he visited this
campus in order to sit in on classes and he
interviewed for a position on the faculty.
Fellow graduate students of his at Penn
State whom I had known as students at
St. John's suggested that he stay over at
Marilyn's and my home .. .On the night
before he returned to Penn State, he and I
talked long into the night about St. John's
College, about our common friends, about
philosophy and the writings of philosophers, about politics and military history.
By the time we arrived at the subject of our
favorite movies, it was clear-I think to both
of us-that our conversation, if allowed to
continue into the coming academic year,
would develop into a friendship.
Since I first read his Ethics, Aristotle's
account of friendship has seemed to me the
truest and most helpful guide to understanding what can generally be understood
of an afiection so intimately bound up with
the particularities of those who share in it.
It is an abiding disposition or readiness to
take pleasure in another's company and to
wish for and work for that other's good. And
it is reciprocal. But, as always with Aristotle,
that readiness comes fully into being when
it is set to work. The highest manifestation
of friendship is shared activity which, in
itself or in its goals, is good. Activity, unlike
readiness, depends upon opportunity, has
its starts and stops. There are high moments
in friendship. And aside from the activity of
raising children which husband and wife
share, I have never enjoyed a more intense
and sustained experience of friendship than
in the two years Alfred and I collaborated in
the production ofAnlntroduction to
Ancient Greek.
The idea was first his. We had both come
to agree that the textbooks available at the
time did little to encourage serious
reflection on the forms and artful use of
language. I had been content to supple-
{OBITUARIES}
{ArJUMNI AssociATION NEws}
ment and occasionally correct the
treatment given by Chase and Phillips'
textbook, then in use. It was Alfred who,
after giving two informal lectures on
Greek and English grammar, proposed
that together we produce a textbook with
the aim of serving the principal aims of
the St. John's language tutorial. At first I
was skeptical. I'm glad he overcame my
doubts .
We decided that each of the major
themes which would be recurrently
addressed and developed in the course of
the textbook should be passed back and
forth between us. We knew that in what we
speaking. The striking triangular diagram
which he placed at the end of the introductory chapter on the verb is the visible
image of his unifying insight. In the years
since, I have marveled at this unifying
power in his thinking on the most various
of subjects, a unification which respects
and illuminates the differences of its units
by revealing their togetherness.
There was a third sharer in that activity:
Chris Dill, later Chris Mullin, who was at
that time secretary to the dean and then
registrar at the college. In addition to
those responsibilities, she undertook the
final stages of preparation of the text for
distribution to the freshman classes. This
required the exercise of taste and judgment .
as well as the transcription of Greek. Our
goal was to distribute each lesson at least a
week before it would be used by the freshman classes. She saw to it that we did,
not only by doing her part but often by
making up for time lost in our last-minute
submissions ofrough drafts to her ...
If I tried to describe Alfred throughout
the time I knew him, the word with which
I would begin and end is one with which
Homer often describes his heroes: megathymos. In English: "great-hearted," though
in Homer's use the meaning can range
from "generous" (or "big-hearted" ) to
"high-spirited."
I have already mentioned one instance of
Alfred's gcneTOsity. I wish to mention
another, lest it be forgotten sooner than it
should. Early in the fall semester which was
to prove his last, John Kieffer (HA7o) fell
ill and Alfred was asked temporarily to
substitute for him in his feshman language
tutorial. At that time a substitute was asked
to serve on a pro bono b asis for a couple of
weeks and then would begin receiving a
stipend in addition to his regular compensation. After a longer period ... the class
would cease to be assigned to the incapacitated tutor and be reassigned to some other
tutor, with proportional compensation.
Alfred knew how strongly John Kieffer
hoped to be able to return to his class, a
hope which, as Alfred knew, would probably never be realized. When the treasurer,
Chuck Elzey, objected that under the
Polity the college could no longer pay for a
substitute, Alfred responded, "I insist on
continuing as a substitute, and I refuse to
be paid." Alfred continued as a substitute
during John Kieffer's remaining months
and never told John what he had done for
him ...
"What we learned in the
e:x:ecution was that
same-mindedness can
be generative: as we
passed a theme back
andforth~ each ones
anticipated contribution
was deepened and
enlarged by the others
prevzous one. "
RoBERT WILLIAMsoN (HAo2)
were setting out to do there was what
Aristotle calls homonoia, same-mindedness, on all that really mattered. What we
learned in the execution was that samemindedness can be generative: as we
passed a theme back and forth, each one's
anticipated contribution was deepened and
enlarged by the other's previous one. It was
truly a combined effort.
But sequential combined efforts must
have beginnings. Early on we had agreed
that we would unfailingly present the textbook as an equal effort. He held me to the
agreement on several occasions. That was
an act of generosity on his part. Now that
he is gone, I feel free to speak the truth.
'I'he two most important and original
insights .which gave rise to our project
and which most pervasively shaped it
were his. I mean the distinction between
formal and material verb-complements
and, especially, the unification of the six
aspects of the Greek verb under the three
elements of subject, predicate, and act of
{ THE CoLLEG E . St. fohn 's College. Winte r 2005
+
}
FRoM THE ALuMNI
AssOCIATION
PRESIDENT
Dear Johnnies,
As alumni, we are always happy towelcome new members into our community.
This fall we've had the occasion to open
our doors to new students and a new
leader.
Welcome to incoming students-alumni
of the future!
Do you remember your first encounter
with the idea of St. John's? Your first visit
to a campus? First seminar? I certainly
do, and those memories rushed back
when; in late September, we hosted a
prospective student reception in my
home. "We" is the Twin Cities Chapter of
-the Alumni Association and my husband,
John. Together we welcomed a group of
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed below.for information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
SOS-275-90I2
BALTIMORE
Deborah Cohen
4I0-47 2-9IS8
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin Gammon
4I0-28o-0958
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
6r7-964-4794
AUSTIN
John Strange
2I0-392-SSo6
Bev Angel
5I2-926-7808
CHICAGO
Rick Lightburn
lightburn@
earthlink.net
': .. thefoture ifthe
college seemJ' stronger
and brighter this year
than ever_ ifore."
b
young and enthusiastic would-be Johnnies
and their parents . It was a remarkable
gathering in many ways in addition to the
personal time travel it afforded.
One of the prospectives appeared with
her mother in tow-an alumna herself,
Annapolis class of 70-something.
Another brought a sibling who began
the afternoon clearly bored beyond belief
and ended it rather curious about this
strange place and the education it ofiered.
Another parent had read the great
books in her youth without benefit of
conversation. She was thrilled to find out
(via the "The Following Teachers Will
Return ... " mailing) that such a place as
St. John's existed. Her son was excited,
too. Next fall he'll be off to Annapolis
while she joins us for chapter seminars
and contemplates the possibilities of the
Graduate Institute.
The story is that prospectives who
attend such receptions are much more
likely to come to the college than those
who have no personal contact. It was a
delightful party, and the Santa Fe Admissions office made it quite easy! If you are
interested in hosting such an event, contact the Admissions office nearest you.
Not onlyvvill you be doing the College and
the prospectives a favor, but you'll also
find an occasion to revisit memorable
moments from your youth.
Welcome to President Peters!
As alumni from the East and West, we
are pleased to welcome Mr. PeteTs as the
new president of the Santa Fe campus.
Mr. PeteTs' experiences have prepared him
well for a role of productive leadership in
the college community. He has dedicated
DALLAS/,FORT
WORTH
Suzanne Lexy
Bartlette
8I7-72I-9II2
DENVER/BOULDER
Lee Katherine
Goldstein
720-746-I496
GLENDA H. EoYANG, PRESIDENT
ST.JOHN's CoLLEGE ALuMNI AssociATION
himself to learning and supporting the
environments of learning; he has managed
administTative functions that are similar in
size and structure to the College; and he
engages with a kind of seriousness and
attention that we like to think is characteristic of our community.
We are pleased that MT. Peters and his
lovely wife, Eleanor, will be joining us in
January. The Alumni Association Board
of Directors will be looking for ways to
support him and the College under his
leadership, and we encourage our fellow
alumni to do the same.
With a constant supply of eager students
and a promising new leader in Santa Fe,
the future of the college seems stronger
and brighter this year than ever before.
Thanks to all who continue to make the
idea of the college a reality: members of
the Board ofVisitors and GovernOTs,
administration, faculty, current students,
alumni, and friends.
For yesterday, today, and tomorrow,
Glenda H. Eoyang
President
St. John's College Alumni Association
NORTHERN CALIF.
Deborah Farrell
4I5-'{3I-8804
SANTA FE
Richard Cowles
505-986-I8I4
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
2I.5-465-0244
SEATTLE
Amina Brandt
206-465-778I
PITTSBURGH
Joanne Murray
724-325-4I5I
SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Elizabeth Eastman
S62-426-I934
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Carol Freen1an
6I2-822-32I6
PORTLAND
Lake Perriguey
lake@law-works. com
NEW YORK
Daniel Van Doren
9I4-949-68II
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
6rg-423-4972
{ THE CoLLEGE . St. fohn 's College . Winte r 2005
45
TRIANGLE CIRCLE
(NC)
Susan Eversole
9 I 9 -9 68-4856
. WASHINGTON, D.C .
Jean Dickason
gor-6gg-6207
}
WESTERN NEW
ENGLAND
Julia Ward
4I3-648-oo64
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
IS Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
9-722-67I-7608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�~-------------------------------------------~----~--------------------------------------------~
{ALUMNI AssociATION NEws}
HoMECOMING
CHARLOTTE KiNG (CLASS OF I959) FOUND AN
OASIS FROM RACISM AT ST. JoHN'S.
ARouND THE CHAPTERs:
TwiN CITIES
DISCOVERING
HoNoRs
The Alumni Association extended its
highest honor, the Award of Merit, to two
Annapolis alumni at Homecoming in
October. William Carter, class ofig1~o,
was recognized for his contributions in the
field of technical education; Charlotte
King, class of rgsg, was honored for her
contributions to the field of social service.
The association named Glenn HousleyAnnapolitan, sailmaker, and Johnnie
supporter-an honorary member of the
Class of 2004 in recognition of his
contributions to the life of the college,
specially its students and alumni.
Dr. Carter was nominated for his award
by Bill Reynolds, also of the class ofig4o,
with whom he also attended Charlotte Hall
Military Academy. Dr. Carter enlisted and
served in the Navy after graduating from
St. John's. He went on to a career as an
executive with the Northwestern Mutual
Life Insurance Company, but it was in the
field of education that he made his real
mark. He was a founding father of Delaware
Technical and Community College in
Georgetown, Del., and served on its board
of trustees for more than I3 years. The
\Villiam A. Carter Partnership Center on
the Delaware Tech campus is named in his
honor.
After earning his doctoral degree from
Berne University in rgg8, Dr. Carter turned
his attention to the use of computers in
public school classrooms. The Teacher
Assistance Program he founded is now
being used in schools with great success.
Dr. Carter has served on numerous
state, regional and national boards and
{ALUMNI AssociATION NEws}
Maryland's Social Services Administration,
where she was responsible for a $300
million budget and the operation of all
family services and child welfare prograrn:s
in the state.
Miss King has served on the Anne
Arundel Commission for Women, the
Anne Arundel County Ethics Commission,
and the YMCA Board of Directors. In addition, she has volunteered time to more
than a dozen coalitions and commissions
devoted to helping women, chHdren, and
families.
In accepting her award, Miss King said
that although it was difficult to endure the
racism she encountered in the city of
Annapolis in the rgsos, she found in
St. John's an "oasis."
"St. John's is one of my longest and most
profound relationships," she said. "It has
all the characteristics of a good friend; it
has taught me, guided me, challenged me,
and supported me .. .St. John's enabled me
to be a better person by giving me an
expanded vision oflife and its infinite
opportunities for learning, discovery,
and actualization. "
When Miss King returned to work and
live at St. John's more than a decade later,
with her 7-year-old daughter Rachel in tow,
Annapolis had become a "hotbed of civil
rights activity." Here, Miss King found her
new challenges in the area of public service.
"I am so thankful to the college and the
Alumni Association for reminding me that
my life had meaning and that I should take
pride in some of my achievements,"
Miss King said.
At the All-Alumni meeting, Glenn
Housley joined the class of 2004, receiving
a college cap and gown along with his
honor. For IS years, Mr. Housley has hosted
St. John's students on the college's Annual
Sail Picnic and has introduced other
students to the art of sail making.
In his tribute to Mr. Housley, Chris
Denny (Ag3) said: "Glenn and his wife,
Sus3an Borden (A87) , the college's director
offoundation relations}, have opened the
doors of their home to students and faculty
with gracious hospitality through the years.
Students who know Glenn in his many
roles-sailor, craftsman intramural
competitor, and friend-are grateful for his
participation in the life of the college."_.
commissions, including the Delaware
Higher Education Commission and the
National Commission for the Support of
Public Schools. In 2000, he received the
Order of the First State from the governor
of Delaware, an award the recognized his
contributions to improving the quality of
life for residents of the state.
"It is gratifying to have one's efforts
recognized, but it is especially so that this
award comes from all of you," Dr. Carter
said at the Homecoming banquet. "I have a
special place for it right here," he added,
tapping his chest, "and I'll keep it there
for always."
Dr. Carter acknowledged the support
and assistance of his "capable and longsuffering wife, Ann," and introduced his
grandson, Matt Carter, (Ao8). "I have been
lucky enough to be in the right places, at
the right times, to be able to help make
good things happen," he said.
A native of New York, Charlotte King
became one of the first African-American
students to graduate from St. John's. After
graduation, she went on to a career in
social services and today is a senior human
services executive and clinical therapist.
In rg7o, she returned to St. John's to help
establish the college's first counseling
program. She entered public service,
becoming assistant director of the Anne
Arundel County Department of Social
Services, and later directed social services
in Charles County. She served as the
executive director of Associated Catholic
Charities in Washington, D.C. In rggo,
she was appointed executive director of
WILLIAM CARTER (CLASS OF I940) WAS
HONORED FOR HIS COWfRIBUTIONS TO
EDUCATION.
{ THE
CoLLEGE.
St. fohn 's College. Winter 2005
}
AMERICA
BY }UDY KISTLER-ROBINSON (SF77, SFG179)
For several years the Twin Cities alumni
chapter has engaged in reading books according to a theme. Mter a year-long theme on
tragedy, we read what was for some of us an
arduous list of Goethe's literature and scientific writings for a ydr. With that ambitious
undertaking completed, we had no theme in
mind when one member suggested reading
The Confidence Man by Herman Melville.
None of the group had yet read it, but the
keywords "travel" and "Mississippi" spurred
us to read TWain's Adventures ofHuckleberry
Finn first, followed by The Confidence Man.
At that time, we weren't sure whether our
theme should be travelogues or river tales.
Our theme evolved into "Who are we as
Americans?" when we chose to read
Tocqueville 's Democracy in America next
(over three months).
Since the time period of our readings started in the early rgth century, we attempted to
move gradually into the 2oth century and get
a range of different perspectives. Our readings encompassed W.E.B. DuBois' Souls of
Black Folk, Willa Cather's Death Comes for
the Archbishop, Henry James's Washington
Square, Sinclair Lewis's The Jungle, Jack
Kerouac's On the Road, and Anne Fadiman's
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down:
A Hmong Girl, Her American Doctor, and the
Clash oJTwo Cultures. Although our members all agreed we could have stayed on this
theme for years without even scratching the
surface, we ended our investigation into the
American psyche with an American Western
film. Which one to watch caused more
debate than any reading selection, but we
selected The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valence, directed by John Ford, because
we'd heard that Eva Brann once led a
seminar on it.
Many exciting and relevant questions came
up in the course of our readings and discussions. Some of the recurring ones:
What would Tocqueville say about
2-oth-century America? This surfaced in
discussions on immigrant experience and
cultural/ class clashes .
Questions of culture, as seen through the
immigrant experience. How does a group (or
individuals within a group) both keep a former culture and found a new one? Is assimilation inevitable, or does this very process end
up changing the dominant culture too?
How do time and experience change Western archetypal ideas, such as democracy?
What do we value?
How do we deal with the precarious and
important balance of individualism versus
the common good?
What are the different ways to approach
building a society?
What is the American myth? What are the
stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and
is there a basis for these?
Participants seemed to enjoy this theme
greatly, both due to the variety of readings
available within it as well as the timeliness of
the topic in this election year. Next up for our
chapter: epic adventures and journeys, starting with the Odyssey.-$-
47
ST. JOHN~S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
All alumni have automatic membership in the
St. John' s College Alumni Association.
The Alumni Association is an independent
organization, with a Board of Directors elected
by and from the alumni body. The Board meets
four times a year, twice on each campus, to
plan programs and coordinate the affairs of the
Association. This n ewsletter within The College magazine is sponsored by the Alumni
Association and communicates Alumni
Association news and events of interest.
President- Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President-Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary- Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-the-Word-Out Action Team ChairLinda Stabler-Talty, SFGI76
Mailing address- Alumni Association,
St. John's College, P.O Box 28oo, Annapolis,
MD 2r404, or u6o Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599.
Awards of Merit go to alumni who have
made outstanding contributions to the
college, their professions, or the nation.
Honorary Alumni awards go to individuals who have made significant differences
in the lives of students or the college
without having been enrolled as students.
At-Large Directors of the Alumni Association Board are elected by members of the
Association to represent them in the
decision-making processes.
Alumni-elected members of the Board
ofVisitors and Governors provide unique
alumni perspectives to inform the
decisions that set policy for the college.
Officers of the Alumni Association are
elected to provide support and leadership
to the Alumni Association Board of
Directors.
Do you know anyone-alumnus or
not-who should be recognized as an outstanding member of our community?
If so, please contact our Nominations
Committee chair Steve Thomas at
sthomas@fsa.com. Please provide your
name, class year, contact information
for you and the nominee, and a brief
explanation of your nomination._.
CALL FOR
NoMINATIONS
The St. John's College Alumni Association
recognizes members ofthe community in a
variety of ways.
. MEMBERS OF THE TWIN CITIES CHAPTER TOOK A
LITERARY JOURNEY THROUGH I9TH- AND 20THCENTURY AMERICA.
{ TH E
CoLLEGE .
St. f ohn's College. Winter 2005
}
�- -- - - - -- - --·--- ·
{ST.
}oHN~s
FoREVER}
Experience the beauty of early summer
along the San Juan, Colorado, or Green
rivers in an outdoor adventure led by
Mark St. John, director of student activities
in Santa Fe. This adults-only trip is open
to all alumni and their spouses/partners,
but is limited to r6 participants. Participants are invited to camp on the launch
site on Thursday, June r6.The cost
is $300. Contact the Alumni Office at
sos-984-6103, or e-mail Roxanne
Seagraves at rseagraves@sjcsf.edu for
more details. By April I, the office will
know which river has been chosen for
the trip.
THEigo8FOOTBALLTEAM,
AT A TIME INTERCOLLEGIATE
ATHLETICS THRIVED AT
ST.
JoHN's.
GLORY DAYS
n October ro, 1936,
The Black and Orange of
St. John's College entered
the field before s,ooo fans
in Ashland, Va., to face the
Randolph-Macon Yellow
Jackets. The Johnnies were clearly outmatched by the Jackets, who were expecting
to add an 18th game to their winning streak.
But the Johnnies, well prepared by new head
coach Valentine "Dutch" Lentz, held back
Randolph-Macon's star quarterback. Neither team scored until Johnnie Lambros
(class ofrg38) passed the ball to Bill
Stallings (class of 1939), who crossed the
goal line. The game ended in a 7-0 victory
for the Johnnies, the second in a six-game
winning streak.
But the glory days for the college's
athletic teams were waning. In earlier years,
even as the college's academic program
struggled, the athletic program thrived.
Championship lacrosse and football teams
regularly humbled rivals including Johns
Hopkins and the new state college,
Maryland Agricultural, now the University
participate in intercollegiate sports.
In the account given in J. Winfree Smith's
A Search for a Liberal Education, Barr
cited difficulties in scheduling games,
adding that intercollegiate athletics
"involves substituting a spectator
psychosis for student participation."
Lentz left St. John's and later became
head basketball coach at West Point.
Seniors from the class ofr939 voiced
their disappointment with Barr's decision
in thatyear'sRat-Tat, the college yearbook. "With the graduation of our class,
intercollegiate sports pass out of the
picture. And while it is no more our
purpose to bring up that question than
to re-fight the Civil War .. .looking at the
list of our activities, we find that half of
the class played [a sport] at one time or
another during our stay here."
The yearbook writers couldn't have
anticipated how many Johnnies still play
sports. More than roo of the students in
Annapolis and about J20 in Santa Fe take
part in intramurals.
of Maryland. The Johnnies' 62-0 victory
against MaJ:yland in r8gg recently made
the front page of the Washington Post as
one of Maryland's 13 worst losses in
football, a sidebar to a story on a Virginia
Tech-Maryland game.
The brilliant rg36 season was attributed
to some outstanding players and the coaching prowess of Lentz, a rgr8 alumnus who
became athletic director later that season.
A professional sports star in football and
baseball, Lentz had played with the Orioles
basketball team in the Eastern League and
was a high school coach until he returned
to his alma mater in 1926. The 1937 season,
with only two wins and one tie in a ro-game
season, was attributed to a tough schedule
and several injuries. The great triumph of
the final season, rg38, was a o-o tie with
Johns Hopkins, with whom the Johnnies
had the third-oldest sports rivalry in
intercollegiate sports. Failing to win a
single point that year, the team earned the
nickname "the galloping goose-eggs."
In 1939, President Stringfellow Barr
announced the college would no longer
{ THE
Co LL EGE.
St. fohn 's College. Winter 2005
-CHRISTOPHER UTTER
}
(Ao6)
Reunion classes are '70, '75, 'So, '85, 'go,
'95, 'oo. This year, a special roth anniversary reunion is planned for Eastern
Classics participants. Events include
reunion class parties and seminars, the
annual Alumni Art Show, Homecoming
Dinner Dance, Friday Night Lecture
(relating to Eastern Classics), and a
Saturday night Midsummer's Night Ball.
Meet the new president of the campus,
Michael Peters, over Sunday Brunch.
Join Annapolis president Christopher B.
Nelson and Santa Fe president Michael P.
Peters for an "Evening of Conversation"
about the state of the college and plans for
securing its future.
The venue is the Fogg Museum of Art
at Harvard University, and guests will have
the opportunity to tour the museum's
galleries before and after the program.
Beer, wine, and light fare will be served,
and there's plenty of time set aside to allow
Johnnies to catch up with each other and to
hear about what's happening in Annapolis
and Santa Fe.
This year's summer program is a week full
of intellectual stimulation, fun events on
and off campus, and a special participatory
theater event. Alumni can choose from
three seminars:
Chushingura, or The Treasury ofLoyal
Retainers, led by Claudia Honeywell
Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, led by
Kenneth Wolfe and Jay Smith
Milton, Paradise Lost, led by Eva Brann
and David Carl
Participants can also explore A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest by
joining a Shakespeare Reader's Theatre
production of the comedy. Reader's
Theatre is minimalist theatre in which
the script is used openly, staging is simple,
and no full sets or costumes are involved.
Special outings include a picnic and winery
tour along the Rio Grande and Puccini's
Turandot at the Santa Fe Opera. For information on fees, housing information, and
hotel discounts, visit the college's Web site
(click on "Alumni" and choose activities in
Santa Fe) or call the Alumni Office at
sos-984-6!03.
A QUIET MOMENT BY THE POND DURING
SANTA FE's HoMECOMING LAST suMMER.
September 30-0ctober 2
Reunion class years are ' 45, 'so, 'ss. '6o,
'6s.,
,
,
Alla11
Ce
"An Evening of Conversation"
6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, March rs.
Fogg Museum of Art ·
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge
RSVP by March r: 410-295-sssr, or
alexandra.fotos@sjca.edu
This event is the first of four planned
for 2005; similar gatherings for alumni,
parents and friends will take place in
San Francisco, Albuquerque/Santa Fe,
and Philadelphia later in the year.
:~~ DATE DUE
I
Back cover: Photo by David Trozzo
{T
H E
CoLL
E G E .
St. fohn 's College . Winter 2005
}
�•
STJOHN'S
COLLE~GE
PERIODICALS ·
POSTAGE PAID
ANNAPOLIS · SANTA FE
PUBLISHED BY THE
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
P.O.
Box 28oo
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND
2I404
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
~I
�
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Annapolis, Md.
Santa Fe, NM
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thecollege2001
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48 pages
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The College, Winter 2005
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Volume 31, Issue 1 of The College Magazine. Published in Winter 2005.
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Santa Fe, NM
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2005
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Harty, Rosemary (editor)
Hartnett, John (Santa Fe editor)
Behrens, Jennifer (art director)
Borden, Sus3an
Deimel, August
Goyette, Barbara
Hughey-Comers, Erin
Knapp, Carolyn
Maguran, Andra
Mattson, Jo Ann
Rinn, Natalie
Seagraves, Roxanna
Utter, Christopher
Weiss, Robin
White, Roseanna
Johnson, David
Eoyang, Glenda H.
The College
-
https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/b6b50290f2bf08b23c0b09a5067e5e85.pdf
74038a96af953c82c5fe4e22a60cafa5
PDF Text
Text
�On O’Connor
“The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads where time andplace
and eternity somehow meet. His problem is tofind that location. ”
STJOHN’S
College
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
lannery O’Connor’s fiction tends to elicit strong reactions from her
F
readers. Some object to the mixture of comedy and pathos (country girl
wooed for her wooden leg) and the blend of the mundane and shocking
(senseless violence emerges from a clear blue day on a lonely country
The College (usps 018-750)
is published quarterly by
St. John’s College, Annapohs, MD
and Santa Fe, NM
readers was
uncomfortable.
OthersCeorgia,
are entirely
devoted
toon
hertoand
will
Mary Flannery O’Connor
born in Savannah,
in 1925,
went
earn
a read
and
re-read
her
fiction,
prose,
and
letters,
even
as
they
feel
the
discomfort
sociology degree at the Georgia State College for Women, and studied at the Iowa Writer’s
Known office of publication:
Communications Office
St. John’s College
Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404-2800
and
discordance
witnesses
to anfirst
accident
to beLiterary
lookingconnections
so closely. In
the interest
Workshop,
whereofshe
began her
novel. ashamed
Wise Blood.
made
in Iowa, of
full
editors
of’sThe
Colleger
admit
to in
devotion:
wc She
havewas
been
scheming
to get who
and disclosure,
later at the the
Yaddo
writer
colony,
helped
her
her career.
a devout
Catholic
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, MD
road). The freaks, misfits, and fools who populate her world make many
O
’Connor on the
cover for
now,
and here
is in her
rightful
corresponded
regularly
witha while
Thomas
Merton,
theshe
Trappist
monk
who place.
shared her love of writing
along with her deep faith. She suffered from lupus, the wasting disease that killed her father
when she was 15. (It left her near death in 1950.) She was proud of being a Southerner and loved
many aspects of the quiet rural life she was forced to live in Milledgeville because her illness left
her dependent on her mother’s care. On the family’s dairy farm, she raised peafowl that dined on
her mother’s Herbert Hoover roses. She wrote, she explained, because she had a gift lor it.
O’Connor wa.s often amused by those critics who tried to label her. She argued eloquently
with those who insisted that something “socially uplifting’’ must come from fiction: “The
novelist must be characterized not by his function but by his vision, and we must remember that
his vision has to be transmitted and that the limitations and blind spots of his audience will very
definitely affect the way he is able to show what he sees” {Mystery and Manners}.
The focus of this issue, “Revelation,” was one of her last stories, published a few months
before she died on Aug. 3,196/,. We know from her letters that the story was inspired by a visit
to the doctor’s office and that she wasn’t making fun of her protagonist or offering her up for
scorn: “I like Mrs. Turpin as well as Mary Grace. You got to be a very big woman to shout at the
Lord across a hogjten” {The Habit ofBeingY O’Connor made her first appearance on the Read
ing List of St. John’s College in 1989 with “Everything that Rises Must Converge.” Throughout
the years, the standard reading has been “Parker’s Back.”
In addition to paying homage to a favorite Program author. The College accomplishes
another important goal in this issue by showing off the tutors and the interesting things they
have to say when we give them a chance. We posed a question about the short story “Revela
tion” to a group of tutors from both campuses, and they approached it with zeal. (Advancement
vice president Barbara Goyette, A73, wa.s inspired by a church sermon to contribute an essay.)
To get the most from this feature, read or revisit “Revelation” before exploring these essays.
-RH
Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Communications
Office, St. John’s College,
Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404-2800.
postmaster:
Annapolis
410-626-2539
reharty@sjca.edu
Rosemary Harty, editor
Sussan Borden, managing editor
Jennifer Behrens, art director
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Barbara Goyette
Kathryn Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Jo Ann Mattson
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
alumni@sjcsf.edu
John Hartnett, Santa Fe editor
Advisory Board
Michael Franco
David Levine
Andra Maguran
Margaret Odell
Roxanne Seagraves
Mark St. John
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�"I “I v„.
College
The
ZINE
FOR
Alumni
of
t
St. John’s College
Annapolis •
{Contents}
PAGE
JO
DEPARTMENTS
Revelations
a
FROM THE BELL TOWERS
A routine visit to a doctor’s office ends in
a painful revelation for a self-satisfied
farmer’s wife. But what is really being
revealed? Pondering Flannery
O’Connor’s “Revelation.”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Santa Fe Initiative invests in student life.
A new Web site debuts.
Johnnies and Journalism
Mids and Johnnies on Thoreau
Middle States affirms accreditation.
Wine, art, and conversation
PAGE 2izj.
9
LETTERS
The Habit oe Writing
PAGE la
Chris Lynch (A87) on Machiavelli’s
Art of War
A GI alumna considers the lost art and
missed opportunities of letter writing.
PAGE
30 BIBLIOFILE
35 ALUMNI NOTES
2i6
PROFILES
31 Tias Little (EC98) brings Eastern
classics to yoga.
34 Ben Bloom (A97) finds fame.
38 Owen Kelley (A93) pursues monster
hurricanes.
The Mind in Winter
The challenges of the examined life keep
Johnnies young.
PAGE
Zj.6
41 STUDENT VOICES
Summer at Stag’s Leap
Is wanting good grades a bad thing for
Johnnies?
Fine wine, good company, and seminars
make a traditional Northern Cahfornia
chapter event a popular summer
tradition.
44 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS
48 ST. John’s forever
PAGE 46
ON THE COVER
Flannery O 'Connor
Illustration by David Johnson
�{From
the
Bell Towers}
The Santa Fe Initiative
Concerned by the toll deferred
maintenance was beginning to
take on the Santa Fe campus,
the college’s Management
Committee came up with a
comprehensive plan: the
Santa Fe Initiative, a $4.5
miUion investment in buildings
and grounds, improved staffing
in the areas of student life, and
immediate upgrades to two of
the campus’ six laboratories.
When he unveiled the commit
tee’s initiative to the college’s
Board of Visitors and Gover
nors, Annapolis President
Christopher Nelson, interim
president in Santa Fe, received
a standing ovation from the
board. The reception from
tutors at a Santa Fe faculty
meeting was equally
enthusiastic.
For Nelson, serving as
interim president of the Santa
Fe campus in addition to his
regular duties in Annapolis, the
need for an immediate injection
of capital to the Western cam
pus was apparent. Even as the
college plans a Capital Cam
paign to fund a strategic plan of
long-needed initiatives such as
raising faculty salaries, Santa
Fe’s needs couldn’t wait. Nelson
had already seen what could
happen to a campus during lean
years: the Annapolis campus
found it expensive and time
consuming to catch up on main
tenance deferred when funding
for improvements was unavail
able in the early 1990s.
“With the Santa Fe initiative
we are jump-starting a program
of improving opportunities for
students outside the classroom
and for the improvement of
buildings and grounds,” says
Nelson. “This is just the start of
what we need to do over an
annual or intermittent basis
over a period of a decade or
more. We’ve invested about $35
million in the Annapolis physi
cal plant over the last 13 years.
We don’t want to see Santa Fe’s
physical plant deteriorate to the
level that Annapolis was.”
The purpose of the plan is
to make the kind of improve
ments that will encourage
student retention and enable
the admissions office to attract
a larger pool of qualified appli
cants to Santa Fe. Thus the
initiative focuses on areas that
affect student life, the appear
ance of the campus, and the
operation of the admissions and
financial aid offices.
At the same time, the college
will provide funding for an
internship program similar to
the Annapolis program funded
by The Hodson Trust while the
college seeks long-term grant
support for internships.
Costs for the Santa Fe Initia
tive will represent a a percent
''This isjust the
start ofwhat we
need to do over
an annual or
intermittent
basis... ”
Christopher Nelson,
Annapolis President
increase in the operating budg
et each year. The funds for the
initiative will come from unre
stricted endowment funds and
early unrestricted gifts to the
college’s Capital Campaign,
expected to officially begin in
June 2005,
Improvements that affect stu
dent life include funding for
additional staff in the Assistant
Dean’s office.
Career Services
office. Security,
and Student
Activities office.
Facilities
improvements
include renovat
ing the laborato
ries; resurfacing
all roadways and
parking lots,
curbs, and cen
trally located
walkways; adding
a new parking
lot; replacing
After 40 years,
THE Santa Fe
CAMPUS IS SHOW
ING SIGNS OF AGE.
{The College-
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
hardscape between the upper
dorms and Peterson Student
Center; repairing concrete
walls and steps; installing
uniform campus lighting;
installing patios for outdoor
study and social fife; and adding
attractive signs and a security
kiosk at a more formal campus
entrance. Some funding for a
director of buildings and
grounds and an additional
maintenance staff member is
also included.
While it will mean significant
short-term improvements in
Santa Fe, Nelson emphasizes
that the initiative is just a start
ing point: “The campus needs
an investment of about $30
million over time: new dormi
tories, a home for the Graduate
Institute and a new lecture hall,
renovations of the Evans
Science Laboratory, plus
additional renovations
campus-wide. For so many
years, we’ve sacrificed every
thing else to the Program.
We’re on a slow, steady plan of
improvement that requires
investments to make up for
deferred maintenance, for
poor salaries, and insufficient
student services-it’s time to
turn our attention to them with
out taking anything away from
the Program.”
To oversee the implementa
tion of the initiative, Annapolis
treasurer H. Fred “Bud” Billups
(HA03) will assume a new
college-wide position as special
assistant to the chair of the
Management Committee
(a position that alternates
between the two campus presi
dents). Billups will split his time
between the Annapolis and
Santa Fe campuses, providing
oversight over the two admis
sions offices, the two financial
aid offices, and the college-wide
Information Technology office.
He will prepare a college-wide
budget that will allocate annual
operating funds between the
campuses. 4^-Rosemary Harty
�{From
the
Bell Towers}
3
One College, One Web
Ifyou can make the time to
search all of the 4,285,199,774
Web pages available through the
search engine Google, let us
know ifyou find another college
with a Web site like St. John’swhere the dominant image is of a
chair and the valuable center real
estate is not a shot of smihng stu
dents or the beautiful campus,
but ofwords: the names of great
book authors.
On March i, after two years
of planning and gathering
comments from as wide a sector
of the St. John’s community as
possible, the college launched
the new site: www.stjohnscollege.edu. Previously, the col
lege’s student-designed site
diverged into two separate
paths for the Santa Fe and
Annapolis campuses right after
the home page. This new site
was designed from the start to
present St. John’s as one college
with two campuses. Thus what
is emphasized is the common
curriculum and the prevailing
Johnnie culture.
The front-page tour is also a
departure. The links in this
Web tour introduce Johnnies
and their wide range of reasons
for attending the college, the
unique and lively community of
learners, the Santa Fe and
Annapolis communities, and
the chair thing. Alert visitors
will also find surprises-“Easter
eggs” in Web lingo-on the
front page.
The new Web site was
designed to introduce the college
to prospective students and to
better serve alumni, current stu
dents, parents, faculty and staff,
and the communities of Annapo
lis and Santa Fe. The alumni sec
tion, developed with extensive
input from Alumni Association
president Glenda Eoyang and a
team of alumni testers, offers
something particularly useful: a
secure, password-protected
online Alumni Register.
Previously, the college issued
a printed directory of alumni
every five years. With support
and guidance from the associa
tion, the college now offers this
directory online. The search for
mat allows alumni to look up
classmates, find alumni in a new
city, or identify a group of alum
ni working in a particular field.
Like many areas of the Web site,
the directory is a work in
progress. Information in the
Register is drawn from two
separate databases, and the
program the college uses to
“marry” the data often falls
short of the ideal. The college’s
Information Technology and
advancement staffs are working
to remedy this. The more alumni
who use the database to update
their records, the more accurate
the register will be.
A few caveats: to protect
alumni privacy and restrict the
directory to alumni, the system
currently requires the college to
authenticate each user who
attempts to log
in. Once an
alumnus regis
ters, it will take
college staff
about two busi
ness days to pro
vide a password
that will grant
access. Similarly,
any changes
made to an indi
vidual record will
take a few days to
appear. Alumni
can choose at any
time to restrict
their information
to “name only”
or to not appear
in the Register.
If you encounter any
difficulty with the Register or
the Alumni section, or have
thoughts about how the Web
site can better serve alumni,
contact either of the alumni
directors: in Annapolis, Jo Ann
Mattson at 410-626-2531; in
Santa Fe, Roxanne Seagraves at
505-984-6103.
Diving with Sharks in South Africa
OR Wrestling with Plato in Santa Fe?
Along with articles about
pumping iron and healthy eat
ing, the April edition of Men’s
Health listed Santa Fe’s Sum
mer Classics among its “25
Greatest Getaways for Men.”
“We’ve found the best places
you’ve never been,” the article
begins-“high-point adventures
you can plan right now and
brag about for years.” The fea
ture lists opportunities such as
climbing the sand dunes of
Namibia, cage-diving with
Great White sharks in South
Africa, and piloting a subma
rine in Mexico. Studying the
classics at St. John’s sounds
pretty cool, too: “Do you really
want to check out of this life
without having known what
Shakespeare, Mozart, and Tol
stoy were going on about? Take
{The College-
a crash course in the human
experience-and spend a sab
batical summer to rememberby registering at St. John’s Col
lege, where laymen are invited
to delve into the great works of
man in small classes....”
This year’s Summer Classics
offerings are luxuriously eclec
tic, combining classics of the
East and West with modern
fiction and a generous serving
of music.
The first week, July rr-i6,
features Joseph Conrad and
Henry James, Xenophon, and
Freud in the morning; in the
afternoon participants take on
the stories and short novels of
Dostoevsky and Gregorian
Chant,
During week two, July 18-23,
morning session participants
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
can choose from Mozart or Lao
Tzu, or Jane Austen paired with
Shakespeare. Afternoon partic
ipants can take on Copernican
meditations, the short stories
of Thomas Mann, or the
Platonic dialogues Laches,
Charminides, otEuthyphro.
The third week, July 25-30,
features a.m, offerings of
Mahler, the Yoga Visitha, and
Spinoza. In the afternoon par
ticipants can study Maurice
Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenolo
gy ofPerception, Montaigne
essays, or Faulkner’s Absalom!
Absalom!
The full schedule of seminars
and tutors are available on the
college Web site: www.sqohnscollege.edu.
�{From the Bell Towers}
Journalistic Johnnies
The
Gadfly
What Dfcl You Do During the Hurricane?
The Moon ^z/z^/The Gadfly/
Politics, Poetry, Punditry
Of the four individuals who
edited the student newspapers in
Annapolis and Santa Fe this past
academic year, not one has the
shghtest interest in pursuing a
journahsm career. Yes, it had
crossed their minds at one point
or another, hut they have all
talked themselves out of it.
Cathy Keene, a rising junior
in Annapolis who helped edit
The Gadfly for two years, admits
to being a deadhne junkie and
loves being in the know on
controversies or breaking news.
But one summer spent working
at a magazine convinced her
she should consider another
way to make a living. “Too
much stress,” she explains.
Ian McCracken, her co-editor
this year, is graduating and head
ing to law school. Santa Fe Moon
co-editor Jonathan Morgan,
a senior, is more interested in
biotechnology; senior Margaret
Garry is now leaning toward law
school and politics.
So, if it’s not a career goal that
tethers these individuals to to to
12 hours a week of writing, edit
ing, and production headacheson top ofwork-study jobs and
all the regular rigors of the
Program- what is it?
“1 have no idea why 1 do it,”
Keene admits. “We’re all
friends at The Gadfly, and it’s
really fun getting it out every
week. It gives me a real connec
tion to the Polity.”
“We get to produce this little
snapshot of St. John’s,” says
Garry. “And it’s really cool
seeing the Moon come together,
from somebody’s idea to
publication.”
The two periodicals differ
significantly in graphic style,
content, and tone. The Gadfly is
heavy on politics and Polity
issues; fiction and poetry are
more hkely to turn up in the
Moon (though it doesn’t shy
away from hard news either).
The Gadfly savors the backand-forth of intellectual argu
ments between two people
j
that can span several issues.
In the Moon, the “campus
moralist” expounds on issues
of student conduct; The Gad
fly has “You Make the Gall,”
athletic director Leo Pickens’
regular sports rules quiz.
Consider some of the offer
ings in Volume 8, Issue 4, of the
Moon', an opinion piece honor
ing military veterans; a feature
on the Web site bartcop.com, a
first-person parody of a seminar
on The Runaway Bunny, an
explanation of the Student
Review Board, a think piece
about the value of studying clas
sical languages, an investigative
report on problems concerning a
Common Room, and a science
fiction fantasy offering on
“Poster Wars.”
And Volume 25, Issue 20, of
The Gadfly: of review of tutors’
performance of The Birds', an
extensive piece on a cover-up by
the liberal media, three-and-ahalf pages of letters to the edi
tors, a review of Mr. Grenke’s
Friday-night lecture on Kant,
and “Why 1 Hate George W.
Bush, the Final Installment,”
including the author’s offer of a
cup of coffee for those who
would sit down and talk with him
about their opposing views.
Both publications attracted
controversy this year. The Gad
fly was delayed when assistant
dean Judith Seeger and student
services director Joy Kaplan
decided two stories should not
run. One included potentially
libelous material, the other con
fidential college information.
Seeger doesn’t see her role as
a watchdog; she reviews the
publication with an eye to
{The College-
protecting the college from law
suits. “We have occasionally
seen things that we think are
sometimes cruel, and we’ll
say ‘do you really want to put
that in your paper?’ And some
times they have listened and
reconsidered.”
The Gadfly was also blasted
for running a sham review
submitted by two students on a
movie they called “Tough Jew.”
“What really got people mad was
the photo we ran with it-Leo
Strauss. The cutline was: ‘Leo
Strauss: tough?’ One tutor wrote
in and said, basically, ‘how dare
you?’ We were totally blown
away by the response. We
defended ourselves, and then
we learned the movie was a
fake-we looked even stupider.
It was a learning experience,”
Keene says.
The Moon editors also had a
learning experience in the
Santa Fe campus response to
the newspaper’s “2003 Dirty
Poetry Contest” issue last fall.
The issue included photographs
of female students that some in
the campus community consid
ered racy; others considered
them degrading.
“There were several different
objections to the issue from
faculty members, the administra
tion, even a couple of students,”
Morgan says. “I think the most
valid point is that showing
certain students in that frame
work contributed to kind of an
uncomfortable classroom
environment. I hadn’t really
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
thought it was that immense of a
deal. People have bodies.”
After Morgan and Garry sent a
letter to the faculty apologizing
for the issue, and promising to
be more responsive in the
future, a proposed resolution
condemning the Moon turned
into a resolution supporting the
newspaper. “I regret that we
offended some people, but I
still think it was a great issue
because it got people’s atten
tion,” he says.
While both publications
accept advertisements, they’re
not self-supporting and, like
other student groups, get fund
ing allocated by the college.
McCracken believes the publica
tions might be better if they were
independent and funded by ad
revenue. “Given all the guidefines, I sometimes think it would
be easier if we weren’t affiliated
with the school. I know of people
who would write more things if
they knew their copy wasn’t
going to be reviewed by the
administration first,” he says.
Morgan hopes future Moon
editors work to maintain the
publication as a voice for
students. “I like that the Moon
doesn’t have a strict focus,
that we can have poetry and
artwork, a commentary on
Dante’s Inferno or the Iliad,
philosophical pieces and funny
pieces,” he says. “I like the
creativity. ”4-Rosemary Harty
�{From the Bell Towers}
5
A Meeting of Mids: Students Launch
Joint Seminars with the Naval Academy
The Johnnies wore
jeans and t-shirts
and lounged
comfortably at the
seminar table. Bolt
upright in their
chairs, white caps
set neatly in front of
them on the table,
the midshipmen
were clad in their
dark uniforms and
polished shoes.
As they spoke, they
looked to the semi
nar leaders, tutor
Louis Miller and
Naval Academy
Professor Lt. David
Bonfili, and resisted
the urge to raise
their hands.
The text before
the group of to students was
Thoreau’s “On Civil Disobedi
ence.” Miller’s opening ques
tion drew from Thoreau’s
words: “Can there not be a
government in which
majorities do not virtually
decide right and wrong,
but conscience?-in which
majorities decide only those
questions to which the rule of
expediency is applicable?”
For two hours, students
grappled with the text not as
students from a military
academy or liberal arts
college, but as intelligent,
self-directed individuals eager
to grasp the heart of an idea.
The discussion quickly drew
out strong responses, but it
didn’t evolve into a debate
between students from the two
institutions. Thoreau’s stance
on not paying taxes and his
views about resisting an unjust
government were seen by
some of the midshipmen as
ideological luxuries. One
midshipman was distinctly
annoyed by what he described
as Thoreau’s “arrogant” ideal
Junior Rachel Hall
AND Midshipman
David Buck
ism. “He’d like to be a martyr,
but he’s not,” said a midship
man who pointed out that
Thoreau did not resist when
his friends bailed him out of
jail. And several studentsJohnnies and mids alikedisagreed with Thoreau’s
stance that it was not his
“business” to petition the
government to remedy what
he viewed as unjust laws.
Saida Johnnie, “Thoreau
believes that we won’t need gov
ernment if we’re enlightened.”
Enlightenment is a fine
thing, a midshipman coun
tered. But who will build the
roads? Can we convene a
government just when we need
one to accomplish some
particular goal? Can we call
up a military force only when
under attack?
One of the midshipmen said
that governments do make bad
decisions and meddle in per
sonal liberty; citizens should
protest when a government’s
actions are unjust. “There are
people who don’t have any
thing to do with me making
{The College.
decisions about how I live my
life,” she said.
“Not all of us,” said another
midshipman, “can be Martin
Luther King or Gandhi. If
everyone stopped supporting
the government, I don’t know
where we’d be today.”
After the seminar, the
group gathered in the Great
Hall with the participants of
the five other seminars, about
70 in total. Midshipman David
Buck attended all three semi
nars, partly out of interest in
the readings, but also because
his girlfriend, St. John’s junior
Rachel Hall, helped to organ
ize them. Hall hit on the idea
when she began reading Sun
Tsu’s The Art of War last year
and found she wanted to dis
cuss it with a group of people.
She brought the idea to Navy
Professor David Garren, and
Garren helped recruit Navy
co-leaders and organize the
seminars. “He was very enthu
siastic about it,” said Hall,
who found St. John’s tutors
were also pleased to partici
pate. The first seminar, in
St. Jo hn’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
January 2003, was
on Sun Tsu’s The Art
of War. Johnnies
went to the Naval
Academy to discuss
Plato’s Crito last fall.
Jacob Thomas,
a junior, found the
Thoreau seminar the
best of the three so
far, because mid
shipmen had caught
on to the dynamic of
seminar. In discus
sion of Sun Tsu,
their superior
military knowledge
tended to lead them
to dominate the conversations,
he said.
“But this time, they really
became involved in the discus
sion and in Thoreau’s ideas,
which was wonderful,” said
Thomas.
“It’s good for our students to
be exposed to each other,” said
Lt. Bonfili, a political science
professor. “I see the diversity
of opinions coming out.”
Having encountered John
nies during waltz parties,
croquet, and Reality, Buck
has been impressed with the
intellectual side of St. John’s.
Still, he added, “Johnnies are
crazier than mids.”
Like croquet, the joint
seminars seem to have become
another tradition, says junior
Mark Ingham, who helped
organize the seminars. “The
more you talk with the mid
shipmen, the less intimidated
you are by the uniform,”
he said.
-Rosemary Harty
�{From the Bell Towers}
6
News and
Announce
and in Santa Fe from 1989-96
before she came to Annapolis
in 1997-
ments
Steve Linhard, assistant
Appointments
In the Graduate Institutes,
effective June i: Tutor
Krishnan Venkatesh
becomes director in Santa Fe;
tutor Joan Silver the director
in Annapolis. Venkatesh has
been a tutor since 1989. He
earned a bachelor’s in English
from Magdalene College,
Cambridge. He spent more
than three years conducting
postdoctoral research in
Shakespeare and Renaissance
English at the University of
Muenster, West Germany, and
later taught at Shanxi Universi
ty, People’s Republic of China,
where he helped develop an
ESL curriculum.
Silver earned her bachelor’s
degree from the State Univer
sity of New York, College at
Old Westbury, a master’s from
St. John’s, and a doctorate in
Theology and the Arts from
Graduate Theological Union.
She was a tutor in Annapolis
from 1974-77, a tutor for several
summers beginning in 1985,
Middle States Review
Annapolis Appointment
St. John’s in Annapolis has earned a lo-year reaccreditation
from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
The college’s accreditation was reaffirmed at the March
meeting of the commission and followed a review of the
college’s extensive self-study.
A report from the evaluation team affirmed that St. John’s
is carrying out its educational objectives. The college
community found its opening words most gratifying:
“St. John’s College (SJC) deserves its reputation as one of
the best and most distinctive institutions in the United States,
indeed the world. The College has a long and unswerving
history of commitment to a single ideal: the life of the mind
as principally represented in the great books of the Western
tradition. Everything in the educational program evolves from
this ideal and it has worn well over many years. By design,
change occurs slowly at SJC and this deliberateness buffers the
College from the swings of fad and momentary diversions that
often plague other sectors of higher education.”
The college this year also sought accreditation from the
American Academy for Liberal Education; a decision from the
AALE is pending.
treasurer in Annapolis, will fill
the position of treasurer on the
recommendation of St. John’s
President Christopher Nelson
and the campus faculty. The
college’s board approved the
appointment. Linhard came
to the college in 1997 as con
troller. Prior, he was the
accounting manager/
controller for the Chesapeake
Bay Foundation.
New Staff
in
Santa Fe
Doug Single joins the college
as director for college-wide
major gifts. He brings
extensive fund-raising and
management experience to
the new position. After earn
ing bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in political science
from Stanford University,
Single became associate
director of athletics and
assistant football coach at
Stanford; he also served as
athletic director at Southern
Methodist and Northwestern
universities. Single recently
served as chief executive
officer of the David Douglas
Marketing Group in San
Francisco.
John Hartnett (SF83) has
been named communications
director. Hartnett attended
the Santa Fe campus before
going on to earn undergradu
ate degrees in philosophy and
economics from the University
of Illinois. He also holds a
master’s degree in writing
from Hamline University in
St. Paul, Minn. Most recently,
he was the president of his
own marketing communica
tions company. 4"
Consider Consolidating
Alumni with student loans may
want to look into consolidating
them into one fixed-rate loan,
the college’s Financial Aid
offices advise. Student-loan
consolidation involves paying
off current federal education
loans in full and creating a new
loan with a new interest rate
and repayment term up to 30
years. Federal Stafford and
PLUS loans charge variable
rates that are set by formulas
based on the last auction of 91day U.S. Treasury bills in May.
Federal consolidation loans,
however, carry fixed rates that
are based on the rates of the
loans being consolidated.
In recent years, the variable
student loan rate, determined
by the government, has been
at record lows (3.4 percent
on Stafford loans in May), but
interest rates are expected to
rise this year. Parents of college
students who have taken out
PLUS loans may also consoli
date these loans at current
rates.
There’s another reason to act
quickly, says Caroline Chris
tensen, financial aid director in
Annapolis. Legislation expected
{The College -Sf.
to come before Congress as part
of its renewal of the Higher
Education Act this year could
turn that low fixed rate into a
variable rate in the future.
Proponents of the bill say the
government is losing millions
in subsidies it pays to lenders
and want the savings directed
to other aid programs for
currently-enrolled students.
However, new alumni face
complications. “Ifyou consoli
date during your six-month
grace period, you lock in at the
in-school rate, currently 2.82
percent,” Christensen says.
John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
“What ifyou lock in at 2.82 per
cent, then rates drop on June
30? You’ll have a higher rate for
the fife of your loan, in addition
to losing remaining months of
interest-free grace period when
you consolidate. So you want to
wait until very close to the end
of your grace period.”
Contact your lender or the
Financial Aid office on either
campus: in Annapolis,
410-626-2503; in Santa Fe,
505-984-6058. Information on
researching and comparing
loan programs is available at
www.estudent.com.
�{From
the
Bell Towers}
Board Approves Polity Amendments
Among the many actions it took
at its quarterly meeting in April,
the college’s Board of Visitors
and Governors approved a
change to the college Polity,
the governing document for
St. John’s College.
The Management Committee-which oversees non-aca
demic policy and coordinates
administration of the two campuses-was made a permanent
part of the St. John’s governing
structure. The Management
Committee was established in
3000 and included as an addi
tion to the Polity with a five-year
sunset clause. The board voted
to delete the sunset clause, thus
continuing the committee.
This action represents the
culmination of a several-year
review of the Pohty, which also
resulted in a rewording to reflect
gender-neutral language and
10 amendments being passed in
April 3003. One of these amendments-the addition of sexual
orientation to the college’s
non-discrimination poUcy-had
been controversial a decade ago.
During a review of the Polity in
r993, the board failed to adopt
an amendment that specifically
prohibited discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation.
Five years later, in 1998, the
issue was not even raised.
“The first time it came up, it
was so bitter, so divisive, that
people were afraid to bring it
up again,” said Jean FitzSimon
(A73), a lawyer who served on
the board committee that took
up the most recent review of
the document. Original resist
ance to adding to the document
was centered on the belief that
discrimination based on sexual
orientation was covered by
other laws, and therefore did
not need to be spelled out,
FitzSimon said.
FitzSimon and other commit
tee members believed other
wise: “Even if it [discrimination]
isn’t happening at the college,
the Pohty is the Polity. We talked
about the public nature of this
document, and we felt that this
was something that had to be
speUed out,” FitzSimon said.
This time around the Polity
Review Committee, led by Greg
Curtis, did bring up the issue as
it began to work through possi
ble revisions in 3003. This com
mittee recommended, and the
Board adopted, a revised
non-discrimination clause:
“There shall be no discrimi
nation at St. John’s College in
appointments, conditions of
employment, admissions,
educational policy, financial aid
programs, athletics, or other
activities, on the basis of race,
religion, age, sex, national
origin, color, disabiUty and/or
physical handicap, sexual orien
tation, or other characteristic
protected by any applicable
federal, state or local law.”
In the Nick of Time
A TRAFFIC STOP ON THEIR WAY TO THE PRESIDENT’S HOUSE NEARLY MADE THIS GROUP OF AnNAPOLIS SENIORS
MISS THE MIDNIGHT DEADLINE FOR TURNING IN THEIR SENIOR ESSAYS. (ThE POLICE OFFICER WAS UNIMPRESSED
WITH THE students’ PLEAS TO LET THEM GO ON THEIR WAY.) FrOM LEFT TO RIGHT ARE DeAN HaRVEY
Flaumenhaft, Justin Berrier, Hayden Brockett, Melissa Thomas, and Joseph Method. A rattled
Thomas is more than ready to hand over copies of her essay, “Reconciling Faith with Action.”
{The College
■ St. Jo hn ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
7
Taxing
Bachelors
As Maryland’s legislators grap
pled this spring with measures
to raise money for the state’s
coffers, word of an innovative
approach from the past-a tax on
bachelors-reached The College,
thanks to Richard Israel, retired
Maryland assistant attorney
general.
While browsing through pages
of General Assembly proceed
ings, Israel found that in 1761
legislators issued a series of
proposals for funding a college
that eventually resulted in
St. John’s. The “batchelor’s tax”
was expected to have a value of
500 pounds or more, according
to a bill aimed at acquiring
Bladen’s Folly, now McDowell
Hall. Listed also were 600
pounds to be raised through
licenses for public ordinaries
(pubs), 150 pounds from taxes
on wheel carriages, and 90
pounds through fees on card
and billiard tables.
The idea wasn’t just to raise
money, but also to encourage
single men to settle down, as
Israel found in the Acts of the
General Assembly, 1755-56:
“Forasmuch as Divine Institu
tions ought to be strictly
observed in every well-regulated
Government, and as that in
Regard to the entering into the
holy Estate of Matrimony may
tend to the more orderly Propa
gation of Mankind, it ought, not
only in a rehgious, but pohtical
View, to be promoted, and the
continuing in a State of Gehbacy
discountenanced, especially in
every Infant Country.”
The measure, however, was
never signed into law. After
several subsequent attempts,
St. John’s was chartered as a
college in 1784, soon after the
end of the Revolutionary War.
The charter provided that the
college would be financed by the
revenue from several different
taxes.
— Rebecca Wilson
(AGI82)
�{From the Bell Towers}
8
Fun-Raising, East and West
Art, Wine, and Good Conversation Brighten Winter's Dark Nights
Two events in January show that alumni and other college support
ers won’t pass up a chance for self-improvement along with the
opportunity to stay connected to St. John’s. Fine wine and good
food can’t hurt, either.
In Santa Fe, Larry Turley (SF69) brought the extraordinary
wines of Turley Wine Cellars to a benefit hosted by the Philos
Society-a group of local patrons of the college. The event had
wine-lovers buzzing over Turley’s hard-to-find wines, paired with
gourmet food.
Philos Society Event
Features Turley Wines
“Wine is the glass ofthe mind. ’’-Erasmus
A wine dinner hosted by the
Philos Society of St. John’s
College brought too people
from the Santa Fe community
to the rooftop garden room of
La Fonda Hotel in January.
While the opportunity to learn
more about St. John’s College
and fine wines attracted many,
it was clear that the main
attractions were the Napa
Valley wines provided by Larry
Turley (SF69). After all,
there’s a two-year waiting list
for Turley’s coveted wines,
such as a aooi bottle of The
White Coat. The event was
limited to 100, and the tickets,
at $125 apiece, sold out well in
advance.
Now the owner of Turley
Wine Cellars, Turley earned a
medical degree and became an
emergency-room physician
after leaving St. John’s.
He co-founded the Frog’s Leap
Winery in 1981, and then
moved on to open Turley Wine
In Baltimore, Philanthropia (the Alumni Development
Council) and President Christopher Nelson hosted a “Conversa
tion About the State of the College’’ at the Baltimore Museum of
Art. Wintry weather in December cancelled the first attempt at
the BMA event, but the rescheduled event was well-attendedencouraging Philanthropia to plan future stimulating occasions
to keep Johnnies informed and involved in the college.
Cellars with his sister,
Helen (A67).
The hotel’s wine
experts and chefs
worked to create the
night’s dinner menu.
The White Coat was
paired with appetizers;
langostino and goat
cheese empanadas with
toasted pinon-green
apple slaw. Next came
the duck confit on
greens tossed with chile
cascabel-basil vinai
grette, served with a
aooi Pesenti Vineyard
Zinfandel. Paired with
the third course
(pan-roasted chicken
breast with white truffle
demi-roasted garlic
mashed potatoes and sauteed
spaghetti squash) was a aooi
Hayne Vineyard Zinfandel.
A aooi Library Vineyard
Petite Syrah accompanied
cheese and fruit.
The event raised $6,500 for
the college’s Annual Fund.
Left: Philos board member
Charmay Allred shares her
APPRECIATION FOR LaRRY
Turley’s wine.
Above: Richard Morris,
A PAST BOARD MEMBER OF THE
COLLEGE, AND
JeFF BiSHOP
(HA96), VICE PRESIDENT FOR
COLLEGEWIDE ADVANCEMENT,
PERUSE SILENT AUCTION
OFFERINGS.
{The College.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
Turley donated some of the
wine for the event and provided
the rest at cost. In his holo tie
and denim shirt, he circulated
among the guests, talking
about wine and wine-making
and graciously accepting
compliments from wine lovers
grateful for a chance to experi
ence something extraordinary.
The Philos Society of
St. John’s College was founded
to foster and enhance commu
nication, understanding, and
joint activities between the
college and its community.
Co-chairs of the board are
Donn Duncan, M.D., and
Robert Zone, M.D.
�{From the Bell Towers}
9
Friday at the BMA
WITH Chris
Thanks to Philanthropia (the Alumni Development Council)
and Annapolis President Christopher Nelson, BaltimoreWashington alumni had an opportunity to enjoy a private viewing
of the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Cone Collection. Afterwards,
the 82 alumni gathered for conversation, refreshments catered by
The Classic Catering People, owned by Harriet Dopkin (A77), and
an update on the college by the president.
The sights and sounds of the evening echoed the style of the
Cone Collection, creating an impressionistic tableau of delights
for the eyes, treats for the tongue, fellowship for the soul, and
ample food for thought. Thus, as an homage to the Cone
Collection, The College offers its report in the style of the
impressionists.
The Art
time in Paris among the expatriates. It was as though he had memo
rized all the accompanying notes on the walls. It was great fun hstening to him-he completed the experience for me. I’m not sure going
through the Cone Collection will ever be the same.
“Although I didn’t ask a question of Chris Nelson, I liked hear
ing what he had to say, and I know that people felt free to ask him
anything about the college. I was reminded that I still don’t know
very much about the Santa Fe campus and what its financial needs
are, or what those needs grow out of.”
Matisse, Purple Robe and Anemones, Interior, Flowers, and
Parakeets
Picasso, Mother and Child
Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire Seenfrom theBibemus Quarry
Monet, Waterloo Bridge
Van Gogh, Landscape With Figures
Fete avec Biere et Vin
Caprese skewers of pesto-rubbed grape tomatoes, baby mozzarella,
and kalamata olives
Dried fig, walnut, and goat cheese tapenade
Tenderloin roulades with spinach and portobello mushrooms
Jumbo lump crab fondue with a hint of dry sherry and old bay
Miniature fruit tarts, petite brownies, raspberry almond bars, and
fresh strawberries
DeGroen’s micro brew. Banrock Station wine, coffee, tea
Report of the President
Applicant pool up, attrition down.
Graduate Institute-healthy.
A new dormitory with water view is being built for 48 students.
The Santa Fe Initiative invests $4.5 million in the campus and
student life.
Gratitude for The Hodson Trust’s
$10 million grant, which funded
the Mellon renovation and new
dormitory.
Two or three additional major gifts
this year: a possibility.
The help and support of aU alumni
at all levels of giving: priceless.
President Christopher Nelson with Mark Lindley (A67).
Stacey Andersen (AGI93): “While we were wandering through the
Cone Collection, we noticed it was noisy: not normal museum
behavior. Yet we were expected to talk. There’s a commonality
we’ve run into with people who’ve gone to St. John’s. There’s a
shared dialogue. It’s a tone that was set and carried throughout
the evening. I think that’s what led to the discussion that contin
ued after Chris Nelson gave his introductory talk. We thought the
venue for an alumni function was fantastic. Is there abetter place
to unleash a group of Johnnies than in a museum? Thank you for
giving us the text! ”
- SUS3AN Borden, A87
The Reviews
Sara Stuart (Ago): “Mark Lindley
(A67) must have gone through the
Cone Collection before Brad (A89)
and I arrived. He was able to teU us
about all of the paintings and art
objects, and about the Cone sisters’
Above: The feast
Right: Sara Larson Stuart (Ago),
Brad Stuart (A89), and Philanthropia
EVENT CHAIR Steph Takacs (A8g)
{The College.
5t. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Letters}
Febbie Question Answered
Wendell Finner’s account of his query
concerning SJC’s lack of Eastern authors
(Winter 2004) brought back a memory of
Douglas Allenbrook that 1 cherish more as
political correctness continues to elimi
nate free speech.
During convocation for the Febbie 1980
class, one student asked about the lack of
Eastern authors. Without hesitation, and
with a charming smile, Mr. Alienbrook
replied “...the only thing good that has
come out of the East was the Sun.” Memo
ries like these convince me that St. John’s
College is more important than ever to
liberal education and free thought.
Steven D. Brower
(A83)
The Lost Languages
It was a joy and consolation to read the
article about the intensive Latin summer
classes in the Fall 2003 issue of
The College. It made up for the allegation
by a recent commencement speaker that
the students in front of him were lucky to
have the best education: liberal arts,
i.e. trivium and quadrivium-or, as my
Munich editor explained to colleagues at
the Beck publishing house, the “Septem
Artes”'we did at this interesting college in
America. Yes, the liberal arts, all seven of
them, and four foreign languages, the
commencement speaker said: Greek
and Latin and German and French.
The graduates kept a straight face.
Latin had already been dropped from the
curriculum when I joined St. John’s in
i960. German survived another couple of
years; then it, too, was gone. I taught one
of the last classes. It was a pleasure, and a
profitable one. We read bits of the Luther
translation of the Bible, the beginning of
Genesis and the opening of the Gospel of
John, and the juniors recalled some of the
Greek New Testament. We read Lessing
and a little Kant (with the surprising
earthiness of his vocabulary); we read
some Goethe; some of the rhymed caution
ary tales of Heinrich Hoffmann...and stuck
to texts that seemed more memorable and
discussable.
There was a young man in that class, Jim
Forrester (A62). He took the very first
[translation], six weeks into the first
semester. I was amazed at the result, which
included a perfect translation of a page
from Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy. He
translated it into real English, not translaterese, and showed an astonishing feel
''Yes, sing ye and
chant id andyou il learn to
speak and read it.. ”
Beate Ruh m von Oppen
for nuances. Next time the class met I
asked Mr. Forrester if he had been a begin
ner when we began six weeks ago. He said:
“Yes”-and after a moment’s reflection he
added: “I’d sung some Bach.”
Bach makes the language, especially
the biblical language, Luther’s German,
memorable. It sticks in the mind-even
as some of Picander’s poetry in the
St. Matthew Passion does, or perhaps just
first words like “Buss undReuf though
the Gospel of Matthew itself is more
memorable, e.g., “Der Geist ist willig,
aber das Fletsch ist schwach ” quotable
and even usable in daily life...
That remark by Jim Forrester taught me
that singing is the best way to learn a
language. Perhaps poetry, anything that
scans is the next best. So we now leave
German (and Latin) to the freshman
chorus and the other, voluntary singing
groups. Yes, sing ye and chant it! - and
you’ll learn to speak and read it...
Beate Ruhm von Oppen
Tutor Emerita
Thailand’s War on Drugs
I wanted to address something that [Tiitor
Linda] Weiner said in describing her
summer in Thailand (Winter 2004).
Ms. Weiner suggested that Thailand
benefits from an “enlightened monarch”
and described the king’s policy of replac
ing opium farms with organic farms.
While the king may be enlightened, Thai
land’s Prime Minister and police force are
not. In Thailand’s own war on drugs, 2,245
people were killed in an anti-drug cam
paign from February to April 2003. The
police admitted to killing 50 themselves,
and many others were killed as they
returned from police stations. Thai
officials have neglected to investigate or
prosecute the killings. In August Prime
Minister Thaksin said, in reference to drug
smugglers crossing from Myanmar to
Thailand, “From now on if their trafficking
{The College-
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
caravans enter our soil, we won’t waste our
time arresting them, but we will simply kill
them.” This and other policy statements of
the Prime Minister suggest that more extra
judicial killings will come.
The international community, including
the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudi
cial, summary or arbitrary executions;
Amnesty International; and the Drug
Policy Alliance, have expressed outrage
over the human rights abuses stemming
from Thailand’s war on drugs. I would hate
for Johnnies to get the impression that the
program described by Ms. Wiener is
indicative of Thai drug policy. More
information can be found in the Amnesty
International report “Thailand-Grave
Developments-Killings and Other
Abuses” available atwww.amnesty.org
Renate Lunn
Room
for
(A96)
Gauss
Doing year-end cleaning I chanced upon
Sheri McMahon’s letter in the Spring 2003
issue of The College. I guess it’s a recurring
topic among alumni who reflect upon the
mathematics tutorial.
I personally have often thought it a pity
not to pursue geometry a little further.
I always felt a historical approach to
Gauss’s Theorema Eregiurn on curved sur
faces or something like that might be pos
sible. Michael Spivak does something
along these lines in his Comprehensive
Introduction to Differential Geometry.
I always felt there was no greater figure left
out of the program than Gauss, that there
was a route to some of his work in geome
try that would be accessible to seniors, that
it was the perfect context for glimpses of
non-Euclidean geometry and general
relativity that were offered in the tutorial
(nearly three decades ago!), that it has a
perfect antecedent in the spherical
geometry of Ptolemy.
Mark Copper
(SF76)
Words and Deeds
Thank you for the article in the Winter
2004 issue on Santa Fe’s martial artists.
The Annapolis campus has also enjoyed the
Asian martial traditions over the years.
In 1977 tutor David Starr persuaded one of
his former philosophy students from the
University of Rhode Island, a prodigiously
talented gentleman named Robert Galeone, to move to Annapolis to teach the
Okinawan system of Uechi-ryu karatedo.
continued on nextpage
�{Letters}
I was Mr, Galeone’s first student at the col
lege club, which met in one of the handball
courts in Iglehart Hall on Tuesday and
Wednesday evenings, and Saturday morn
ings. Mr. Galeone, a 5th-degree black belt,
produced quite a few serious students over
the seven years that he led the dojo....
Today, Annapolis students interested in
aikido may join the U.S. Naval Academy’s
Aikido Club, which holds classes on both
the Naval Academy campus and in Iglehart
Hall. (For more information, see
http://www.geocities.com/navyaikido/.)
It seems to me that study and practice of
the martial arts, whether from Asia or the
West, is essential to the development of a
free citizen. Whether the pen is mightier
than the sword is not the right question.
Rather, why should the study of one pre
clude the study of the other? To paraphrase
a Japanese proverb, in the hands of an
educated individual, the sword and the pen
are one. Unfortunately, it is too easy for a
student of the liberal arts to acquire a great
and unjustified faith in the power of speech,
along with an all-too-ready skepticism
concerning action. Words need the support
of deeds. As Mr. Galeone once said, “The
body remembers what it does, and not what
you tell it.” Martial arts training provides
the student with the framework to become
as proficient in the world of action as he or
she is in the world of reason, by teaching
balance, grace, and poise, all while facing
an adversary. I hope that students on both
campuses will take advantage of the
opportunities to pursue these disciplines.
Jim Sorrentino (A8o)
Calendar Mysteries Revealed
I was quite amazed to open the 2004
calendar and find a photo of my high
school math teacher (February 2004).
He is Thomas Yoon (A58), and he taught
me trigonometry and led a philosophy
seminar at Scarborough School, in
Scarborough, N.Y. My guess is that it
was 1967. He was an inspiring teacher with
a great sense of humor, and was the one
who told me about St. John’s College.
Pippi Ellison
few lists I have. The whole scene was
contrived, which is why there is a smirk on
the face of the guy front center and guy
left. Girl center was trying to look serious
and guy rear was told to pose in an
awkward position. The people at the end of
the table were told to look at each other.
No one has the same book. The photos
were intended for a catalog redesign, or a
flyer for the admissions office.
I was the student aide for Marsha Drennon, then admissions director, and helped
find the students and arrange the furni
ture. Notice how there aren’t any empty
chairs? We did have a blast doing the series
of pictures around the campus.
Michael David
(SF87)
Dumping Concerns
While I found the “Night Crawlers” letter
(Winter 2004) somewhat amusing as a
piece of black humor, I was taken aback
that there was no editorial note as to the
state of affairs since the dumping
occurred. Has all that stuff been leaching
into the ground and water and possibly the
creek ever since with nothing being done,
or was it cleaned up at some later date?
If not, I think [the college] is morally, and
perhaps legally, bound to address the prob
lem. Surely, SJC is not so philosophically
preoccupied that it doesn’t care what it
does to our environment?
Natalie Chambliss (class
of
1964)
Editor’s Note:
Steve Linhard, treasurer on the Annapolis
campus, says thatfor an undetermined
period oftime, a dumping ground was sited
on the college’s back campus. When the
college investigated severalyears ago, it
uncovered bricks, broken china, bottles.
(Aya)
The May 2004 photo of students at a table
on the dining hall balcony was taken in
June or July 1985. It was a PR photo from a
whole set of photos taken that day all over
the campus. The students in the photo are
mostly January freshmen, though I can’t
remember or find their names in any of the
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
cans, kitchen utensils, and similar domestic
refuse. “'Testpits were dug by an outside
survey company three summers ago, and
nothing ofany chemical nature was
found,” Linhard says. “In addition, core
samples were taken by a geological testing
firm to examine the soil contentforfeasibil
ityfor thermal conductivityfor the geother
mal heating systemfor the new dormitory.
These samples were examined and nothing
hazardous was discovered. ”
Errata
An article in the Fall 2003 issue stated that
Hans von Briesen attended and taught at
Stanford and the University of Rochester.
He attended the universities, but did not
teach at them.
The reading list on St. John’s history that
accompanied an article on the attempted
Navy takeover of St. John’s (Winter 2003)
should have included these works by
Charlotte Fletcher (HA69), former
librarian at the Annapolis campus: Cato's
Mirania: A Life ofProvost Smith, and
“St. John’s ‘For Ever’: Five Essays on the
History of King William’s School and
St. John’s College,” published in the
St. John'sReview (1990-91).
The College welcomes letters on issues of
interest to readers. Letters maybe edited
for clarity and/or length. Those under
500 words have a better chance of being
printed in their entirety.
Please address letters to: The College
Magazine, St. John’s College, Box 2800,
Annapolis, MD 21404 or The College
Magazine, Public Relations Office,
St. John’s College, 1160 Camino Cruz
Blanca, Santa Fe, NM
87505-4599Letters can also be
sent via e-mail to:
rosemary.harty
@sjca.edu.
�{Revelation}
la
REVELATION
and
REDEMPTION
hat is the revelation in Flannery
O’Connor’s “Revelation”?
That was the question
The College asked of a group of
tutors and others in the St. John’s
College community. The short
essays that follow are presented as thoughtful responses to
a question posed in search of gaining more insight into a
puzzling and multi-layered short story. If you have not read
“Revelation,” or read it long ago, put this feature aside
until you can.
W
Ripe for Revelation
by Joan Silver
Lastfall I received a letter from a stu
dent who said she would be “graciously
appreciative” if I would tell her “just
what enlightenment” I expected her to
getfrom each ofmy stories. Isuspect she
had apaper to write. I wrote her back to
forget about the enlightenment andjust
try to enjoy them. I knew that was the
most unsatisfactory answer I could
have givenbecause, ofcourse, shedidnt
want to enjoy them, shejust wanted to
figure them out.
In most English classes the short story
has become a kind of literary specimen
{The College -John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
to be dissected. Every time a story of
mine appears in a Ereshman anthology,
I have a vision ofit, with its little organs
laid open, like afrog in a bottle.
I realize that a certain amount ofthis
what-is-the-significance has to go on,
but I think somethinghas gone wrong in
theprocess when, for so many students,
the story becomes simply a problem to
be solved, something which you evapo
rate to get Instant Enlightenment.
A story isn I really very good unless it
successfully resistsparaphrase, unless it
hangs on and expands in the mind.
Properly, you analyze to enjoy, but ids
equally true that to analyze with any
discrimination, you have to have
enjoyed already.. ..”
Flannery O’Connor, Mystery and Manners.
I will assume that all who have read
Flannery O’Connor’s story, “Revela
tion,” have enjoyed it. We enjoy the
story, and her remarks above, somehow
as wholes, and also in their humorous
and penetrating details. In the spirit of
the above remarks, I would like to notice
numerous revelations which spring from
�{The Colleges?.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�14
{Revelation}
''In a crucial moment
ofthat vision, she
finds her own kind
bringing up the rear... ’
this story, which calls itself “Revelation” in
the singular. I hope that together they may
“hang on and expand in the mind.”
Perhaps the key revelation in the story is
the return to Mrs. Turpin of the enraged
question she asks of God, “‘Who do you
think you are?’”: “The question carried
over the pasture and across the highway
and the cotton field and returned to her
clearly like an answer from heyond the
wood.” This answer is a distillation of the
revelation already embedded in her earlier
questions: “‘How am I a hog and me both?
How am I saved and from hell too?’” At this
reply, Mrs. Turpin’s mouth opens (is it in
wonder or in understanding?), and she
does not speak. But this revelation is not
the end of the story.
Other revelations follow, mediated by a moment in which
she imagines the death of her husband, his truck hit by anoth
er, his “brains all over the road.” Seeing his truck return, she
herself begins to move, “hke a monumental statue coming to
life.” Only now do initial events of the story receive their
answering revelations.
An early revelation in the story is that “living demonstra
tions” are present in the world. When the story begins Mrs.
Turpin (who is “very large”) is entering the “very small”
waiting room of a doctor’s office; she is said to be a “living
demonstration that the room was inadequate and ridicu
lous.” As the story goes on, of course, we see that the waiting
room is exactly the right size for the events which take place
in it. A later echo which replies to this apparent “living
demonstration” immediately follows Mrs. Turpin’s “coming
to hfe.” The “old sow” and young hogs, above whose “pig
parlor” she confronts God, find their places in their “waiting
room” with ease: “They had settled all in one corner around
the old sow who was grunting softly. A red glow suffused
them. They appeared to pant with a secret hfe.” It is the sow
and the other pigs who become a real “living demonstra
tion” for Mrs. Turpin and for the reader. Her earher “glow
ering down” at the hogs and disdaining of others has become
a “gazing down”; she “remained there with her gaze bent to
them as if she were absorbing some abysmal life-giving
knowledge.”
{The College -
Two more echoes follow. The first is a
revelation and echo for Mrs. Turpin and
the reader alike; the second, for the read
er alone. Early on, Mrs. Turpin’s charac
ter is revealed by one of her inner
“games.” In one, she lies awake at night
“naming the classes of people.” She sep
arates and tries to rank human beings by
certain combinations of race and proper
ty, but the real people of her acquain
tance will not stay put in the places that
she gives them: “Usually by the time she
had fallen asleep all the classes of people
were moiling and roiling around in her
head, and she would dream they were all
crammed in together in a box car, being
ridden off to be put in a gas oven.” The
impulse from which such grading and judging spring leads
ultimately to the gas chamber-to spiritual and physical
death for all. This dream is echoed and transformed at the
end by Mrs. Turpin’s vision of the “vast horde of souls
rumbling toward heaven” in which all classes and kinds
are present. In a crucial moment of that vision, she finds
her own kind bringing up the rear: “she could see by their
shocked and altered faces that even their virtues were
being burned away.” Not the fire which makes the gas
chamber, but the fire of purgatory is needed. Note, too,
that hogs are easier to clean than humans; for pigs, only
water is needed.
The final echo is concerned with seeing (and with size).
Mrs. Turpin’s eyes were initially described as “little
bright black eyes . . . [that] sized up the seating situation”
and all else around her. After the vision just mentioned,
O’Connor tells us that her eyes are “small but fixed
unbfinkingiy on what lay ahead.” We may need to ask just
what is intended by “what lay ahead,” but, in this changed
description, we receive the revelation both that a kind of
steadfast looking is necessary for us, and that a transfor
mation of one’s manner of seeing in the world is possible,
(and that size-at least relative human size-does not
matter).
Among the many other revelations in the story, two
seem worthy of note in the context of the ones mentioned
above. The first concerns the catalyst for revelation, the
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
second the capacity to receive it. The story shows revelation-or the beginning of it-coming from the strangest
source: Mary Grace. The suffering of one human being,
her anger and anguish, gives birth to grace for another.
And in Ruby Turpin the story shows inquiry, linked with
sin, as a potential path to revelation and grace. Mrs.
Turpin’s inner “games” embody inquiry in a strange form:
who might I have been if not myself; what is my place with
in all of humanity? They also, of course, reveal pride mas
querading as gratitude. This picture remains a revelation,
if a comic one, of what can make one ripe for revelation.
Joan Silver is a tutor and incoming director ofthe Graduate
Institute in Annapolis.
In the Eye
of
15
Judgment Day
by Pamela Kraus
Ruby Turpin knows what should be and does her part to
make it so. She notices every instance of the messy, dirty,
unregulated world. She has her faults, she knows that, but
she’s a respectable, church-going woman who always tries to
make things right. She keeps pigs-just a few of the preemi
nent unclean animal-but she’s built them a concrete pen, a
“pig-parlor,” to keep them from wallowing in mud and slop,
and she hoses them down regularly. On the day of this story
Ruby accompanies her husband Claud to the doctor and sizes
up the waiting room: it’s small and dirty and filled with
slovenly, careless people. To counter the disorder she exer
cises the best force she can, her good disposition generously
Since the emergency, a wrathful Mrs. Turpin has been
demanding why Mary Grace called her an old wart hog from
hell. Mrs. Turpin is convinced that Jesus sent her the mes
sage and, though she has negotiated with him before, for
once, she finds that defense is futile. She has no one to turn
to. She doesn’t trust the cotton-pickers, whose comments
she finds intolerable and full of flattery. She can’t confide in
Claud (whose name sounds like “clod,” and who can’t shore
up her failing faith). She shouts defiantly to Jesus, “Who do
you think you are?”
The sight of the sun setting in the back pasture, “looking
over the paling of trees like a farmer inspecting his own
hogs,” triggers the collapse of her carefully-tended beliefs.
She inspects her own hogs, who are glowing rosy in the cor
ner of the pig parlor, and takes in the “abysmal life-giving
knowledge” from them-sees, I think, that though there is
no one out there measuring each person for a future crown,
yet we have the present life. There is no doctor behind the
waiting-room door, about to call our names. Mrs. Turpin
sees the vast parade of people, carried to heaven on the pur
ple bridge shouting hallelujah. She knows, for the moment
at least, that this is nothing but a dream.
Heaven
by Basia Miller
Mrs. Turpin’s revelation is pretty dark. She has experienced
the dark before-at the end of her dreams, everyone is
crammed in a boxcar and sent off to a gas oven. Today when
she and Claud enter their own dirt road on the way back from
the doctor’s, she is ready to see her home destroyed, “a burnt
wound between two blackened chimneys.” A few moments
before the end, she imagines the pickup truck being crushed
and her husband’s and the fieldhands’ brains oozing out on the
road. Her final revelation seems, too, to be of a world
destroyed, a kind of apocalypse that nevertheless offers “life
giving knowledge.”
First, Mrs. Turpin’s vision was affected in the waiting room.
When Mary Grace sent the book flying at her head, Mrs.
Turpin saw things smaller first, then she saw everything larg
er. The impact was particularly powerful because Mrs. Turpin
sensed that the girl had a deep, timeless knowledge of her,
perhaps of her soul. We who have heard Mrs. Turpin talking
incessantly, all afternoon, about her own goodness have to
ask if much of this talk isn’t inspired by self-doubt. She’s con
verted everyone’s gestures, everyone’s shoes, green stamps, Basia Miller is a Santa Fe tutor.
and traces of snuff into material for affirming her worth in the
eye of heaven, like a person feeding an insatiable hunger.
{The College-
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�i6
{Revelation}
''Thepurgatorial
vision reveals
all manner of
sinners lined up
ingroups...
bestowed, a veneer of nice manners and char
•
itable platitudes barely covering harsh judg
ments. This is her way of following the com
mandment Love Thy Neighbor. Both her
justice and her mercy are superficial rather
than utterly misplaced. They are poor imita
tions of the divine, not complete aberrations.
Yet they are not harmless: they hold her fast
in easygoing self-righteousness and could
forever blind her to herself.
Mary Grace is the only occupant of the wait
ing room who won’t submit to Ruby’s intru
sive geniality. An ugly, cranky, even mean
young woman, Mary Grace sees a deeper dis
order than Ruby sees, and her penetrating
eye is right on Ruby Thrpin. Mary Grace
waits in the waiting room but is sickened by
the world that surrounds her, as if she has
taken in its ugliness. She is most revolted at
Ruby, its banal and self-satisfied leading citi
zen. Seemingly lost to charity, or too bur
dened for it, she freely offers this world
her scorn.
Each of these judges is drawn to the other
from the first as to a perfect enemy. Mary
Grace rebuffs Ruby’s attempts at cordial
small talk, even when not directed to her, by making
grotesque faces. The affronts enliven Ruby’s insistence on
the virtue of good-naturedness. The garrulous, prettied-up
world of Ruby’s waiting room advances upon the stark,
friendless one defended by Mary Grace. When Ruby’s enthu
siasm reaches its peak, she bursts out in praise: “Thank you,
Jesus, for making everything the way it is! ” Mary Grace retal
iates. She launches her book at Ruby and goes for her throat.
Both fall in this battle. Mary Grace inflicts the blows, yet
she is the one sedated and removed to a hospital. The purple
swelling above Ruby’s eye and the marks on her throat are on
the surface; deeper is a more grievous wound. Not the book,
not the hands clenched around her throat, but the words
Mary Grace whispers as the two lock eyes hit home: “Go back
to hell where you came from, you old wart hog.” These words
“brooked no repudiation.” They strike Ruby’s center of grav
ity, confusing her sight and toppling her confidence. Ruby is
turned, readied for revelation; Mary Grace, an inadvertent
{The College-
cause of grace, goes to a fate we do not know.
The vision of an ugly wart hog besets Ruby
all afternoon. Driven by anger, confusion,
and need, she spills her story almost in spite
of herself to the Black cotton workers in her
employ. This veiled plea for compassion is
met with highly spirited but superficial concern-the kind of concern Ruby has been so
proud of and good at herself, especially with
the Blacks-and it angers her to receive it
from those she has considered so far beneath
her. She goes to her pig-parlor seething as
intensely as Mary Grace in the waiting room,
turns the hose on the pigs, and, like a comic
Job, thrusts question after question at God.
The questions begin in a forceful whisper,
“How am 1 a hog and me both?”, and reach a
summit of fury: “Who do you think you
are?”, the fundamental question to which a
vision is the mysterious answer.
The purgatorial vision reveals all manner
of sinners hned up in groups, each rejoicing
in its distinctive way, and puts Ruby in
her place. Ahead in line are the leapers
and rollickers; she, Claud, and the other
respectable people are last in the procession,
their virtues the sins being burned away. The vision is a
reminder of our essential unfitness to understand and follow
the commandment to love even when we desire to and a reve
lation of God’s inscrutable, comic ways. As Ruby stands gaz
ing upon “what lay ahead” and hearing at the crickets’ chirps
hallelujahs of praise, we wonder in what world Ruby now
is and whether it may embrace the edge that Mary Grace
inhabits.
99
Pamela Kraus, a tutor in Annapolis, also serves as editor of
the St. John’s Review.
The Private Hell
of
Ruby Turpin
by Cary Stickney
Without rereading the story, 1 want to say that the primary
revelation is what the girl in the doctor’s office says that
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
wounds Mrs. Turpin so: “You are a warthog from Hell!”
Ruby Turpin cannot forget it, and it brings on a kind of crisis
of faith, I presume because on some level Mrs. Turpin
acknowledges its truth. It is at least in part-the warthog
part-an inevitable consequence of existing as a creature in
the same cosmos with an infinitely good Creator. In this
sense I suppose even archangels are warthogs, compared to
the beauty of God. That the warthog is from Hell seems to me
to say that we have each taken the finite beauty and goodness
we might have had and thrown it away. That is, we are sin
ners, and we make a kind of hell for ourselves.
Looking back at the story I see that the girl in the waiting
room says, “Go back to Hell where you came from, you old
warthog!” Mrs. Thrpin had been revealing by her conversa
tion with the girl’s mother that she lives in a world of careful
ly maintained distinctions, and that she compensates herself
for the efforts she makes to be good by looking down on all
those who seem not to try as hard. She would not describe her
own world as a hell. But I see something hellish in the dream
we are told she sometimes has, in which her struggles to
17
maintain the picture of a well-ordered hierarchy of human
virtue and vice correlated with property ownership and
worth ancestry, to say nothing of skin color, give way to a
vision of a cattle-car crowded with every kind of human on
the way to a gas oven. In her waking hours, she sees a world
in which good people are the exception and things are get
tingworse. To be “saved,” as she believes she is, requires that
she think better of things than that, at least in an ultimate
sense, but it looks as if she has reduced God to a scorekeeper
and that her gratitude to have been created as the one we see
is dependent at least on her fear of and contempt for others.
The Wellesley girl, Mary Grace, may see that, and may mean
that she is far from heaven and fairly close to hell, so that it
would be easy to just go back. Of course being an effective
messenger may not require that the aptly named Mary Grace
fully understand the message she delivers.
Both the aspects of the revelation, that she is a warthog and
that she came from Hell, carry with them a redeeming and
mysterious grace: namely that in spite of our vanishingly
small claim to significance or beauty or even to being at all.
{The College -St John’s
College • Spring 2004 }
�i8
{Revelation}
we somehow do exist in the same cosmos with infinite beauty
and heing-God has made room for us and wants us to be.
That turns out to involve, in the Christian understanding,
that He has moreover forgiven us the waste of our time and
gifts, the pettiness and cruelty we might have avoided, and
that He offers us His love. What Mrs. Turpin demands to
know, namely how she can be herself and a hog too, or saved
and at the same time from hell, is the mystery that requires a
further revelation, or a deeper view of the one she has been
given.
In the story, Mrs. Turpin is hosing out the hog pen and
shaking her fist at God when the shape of the stream of water
momentarily comes to resemble a snake. She is at that
moment complaining to God that she might as well have
never tried to lead a good life at all, if she can be so insulted
and feel it so deeply; if, in a word, she is still just a warthog: in
spite of all her efforts still essentially no better than the worst
of sinners, the most lazy and wicked. This is a form of the
temptation to think that she should. Godlike, be able to make
herself, to accomphsh her own goodness and merit by her
unaided efforts, and thus, implicitly, to know good and evil:
to have the right to judge and condemn others presumably
less industrious or tasteful than herself. For if it does not ulti
mately matter what she does, and all saving power remains
with God, why has she troubled herself all these years? “Why
should we not sin the more, that Grace may abound?” asks
Paul, before repudiating the question.
The mystery and the final aspect of the revelation, granted
in her sunset vision, is that it does and does not matter. It
does: before she sees the highway into heaven she has seen
the setting sun like a farmer looking over the fence of the
treetops at his hogs, and she has seen her own hogs, clean
now and gathered around the old sow, the source of their
hves, and one kind of image of herself. She gazes “as if
through the very heart ofmystery,” and again, “as if she were
absorbing some abysmal, life-giving knowledge.” It is a
knowledge set off both by the previous sight of her husband’s
truck going down the road no bigger than a toy, liable at any
moment to be smashed, and by the fact of sunset itself. Even
without accident we are not here long. From the abyss, the
depths at greatest distance from God, she absorbs the knowl
edge that life-finite, particular, hog-ugly hfe-precisely in its
finitude, is beautiful, is full of God, its secret source. If those
hogs are beautiful, then so is she; it is right that she is who she
{The College-
is. But then it is equally right that others are who they are.
Her struggles to do right have not made her superior. When
she sees the horde of ascending souls, led by the crazy, lazy,
crippled, and off-key, she sees she had to make the efforts she
made to be who she is, not because God would not love her
otherwise, but because there must be all kinds of saved sin
ners, and it is a divine gift to be whatever kind you are.
It does not matter: the very virtues of the decent and
upright like herself are being burned away in the purging
fires of the ascent; that is, even their virtues are small and
small-minded in the hght of God’s love. That God’s love is not
hmited by human wickedness and yet does not annihilate the
significance of an individual life is part of the same revelation
as that an infinite being should make room for finitude to
begin with. Greation and redemption are revealed to be at
one.
Carey Stickney (A75) is a tutor in Santa Fe.
The Presence
of
Evil
by George Russell
Flannery O’Gonnor did not write about the lives of the
great, but the lives of the ordinary and the lowly. By conse
quence, the situations and actions of her characters are
most often the stuff of comic and not tragic report. One
finds himself laughing spontaneously at the human beings
in her stories. Nevertheless, she is not condescending to
her characters. She takes them seriously, holding them
accountable for their weaknesses and transgressions. They
may be ridiculous in the smallness of their views and
desires, but they suffer nonetheless for their sins, and one
is brought to feel for them in their sufferings and in the
realizations that their sufferings allow.
“Revelation” is a story about a day in the life of Ruby
Turpin, a farming woman who, as far as she knows, is
“saved” (“And wona these days I know I’ll we-era a
crown.”) and who, in her own words is “a respectable, hard
working, church-going woman.” From the first we are told
that Ruby Turpin is a woman, big in size (“I wish I could
reduce...”), blessed with a “good disposition” and “a little
of everything,” with the emphasis on “everything.” In the
story, we see her settled conclusions about the world
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
around her and her place and identity in that world and in
the divine plan come under an unexpected and jarring
attack during a visit with her husband to the doctor’s
office; and we witness a recovery which is as remarkable as
the fall.
A story with two distinct parts, “Revelation” in its first
part takes place in the waiting room of a doctor’s office.
The waiting room is emblematic of the shared human
condition. Human beings are susceptible to injury and
sickness. And their susceptibility is real; they get injured;
they get sick. However that maybe the case, the story is less
about bodily injury and illness than it is about another abo
riginal susceptibility, the proneness to sin and especially to
pride. It reminds one of the passage in the Bible from
On
the
Road to Damascus
by Michael Dink
The revelation that comes to Ruby, in the form of a book
thrown by Mary Grace that knocks her off her chair in the
doctor’s office, is in essence identical to that which came
to Saul, in the form of a flash of light that knocked him to
the ground on the road to Damascus. Prior to the revela
tion, Ruby and Saul shared a sense of their superiority to
certain other human beings, a superiority achieved by reg
ulating their conduct according to certain precepts and
recognized in the eyes of God. In Ruby this sense takes the
form of a self-congratulating condescension, in which she
sees herself as kind and tolerant to those inferiors, while
in Saul it took the more aggressive form of trying to pun
ish or reform those who had strayed from the right path.
When Ruby is called “a wart hog from hell” and Saul is
asked, “Why do you persecute me?” they are confronted
with the claim that they are sinners, certainly no better
than those they had despised, and perhaps even worse,
precisely because of the claim to righteousness implicit in
their despising, a claim that Saul, reborn as Paul, denies
that any human being can truthfully make.
Ruby struggles valiantly to deny this message, “But the
denial had no force.” She resents its being directed to her,
“a respectable, hard-working, church-going woman,”
19
Proverbs, “Pride goeth before destruction, and haughty
spirit before a fall.” The central dramatic incident that
takes place in the first part of the story occurs in the con
text of a conversation between three women, Mrs. Turpin,
a poor white woman, and the mother of a college student
named Mary Grace. The conversation of the women, taken
together with the reports of the narrator, reveals the pride
of the three women and of Mary Grace, but especially that
of Ruby Turpin.
About Mrs. Turpin we learn early on, that when she is
restless and unable to sleep, she has two nocturnal occupa
tions. In one, she seems to be acutely aware of the contin
gent character of her present life. Like Eve, who is tempted
by an alternative vision of the world, Mrs. Turpin’s imagi-
“though there was trash in the room to whom it might
justly have been applied.” A kiss from her husband and
flattery from the black womenfolk of their hired help fail
to assuage her resentment.
When she goes to the pig parlor and tries to cleanse the
pigs, she speaks out her resentment, evidently to God,
indicating that she does recognize the source of the reve
lation, despite her resistance to it. She continues to justify
herself, to defend her innocence, her charity, her superi
ority to lower orders of people. Her fury bursts forth in a
defiant challenge, “Gall me a hog again. From hell. Gall
me a wart hog from hell. Put that bottom rail on top.
There’ll still be a top and bottom.”
After seeing her husband’s truck in the distance as tiny
and vulnerable, she gazes at the hogs for a long time, “as if
she were absorbing some abysmal life-giving knowledge.”
Then she has a vision of a procession of souls marching
toward heaven. Leading the way are “the bottom rail,” all
the kinds of people she despised, “shouting and clapping
and leaping like frogs.” Behind them, with “great dignity”
but with “shocked and altered faces,” come people like
herself and Glaude, and she sees that “even their virtues
are being burned away.” In this final vision, she at last sees
how she is “saved and from hell too.”
Michael Dink fAyjJ is an Annapolis tutor.
{The College -5f. John ’5
College ■ Spring 2004 }
�ao
{Revelation}
Priestess and Visionary
by Elizabeth Engel
Mrs. Turpin’s revelation builds from the first face the girl
makes at her through Mrs. Turpin’s wonderful defiant
questions to God as she stands at the pig parlor; “What
do you send me a message like that for?” “How am I a hog
and me both? How am I saved and from hell too?” The set
ting sun, now far more mysterious than when Mrs. Turpin
saw it, hke her, “looking over the paling of trees like a
farmer inspecting his own hogs,” transforms everything.
Mrs. Turpin, ignoring the transformation, dares God again
and ends with roaring “who do you think you are?” An
echo comes back at her “like an answer from beyond the
wood.” God answers her by questioning her and her pride,
with far more right than she had to question him.
Mrs. Turpin begins to see who she really is as she sees the
fragility of human life in Claud’s tiny truck, which from her
position looks like a child’s toy: “At any moment a bigger
truck might smash into it and scatter Claud’s and the nig
gers’ brains all over the road.” When she has seen the truck
home safe, she turns to the pig parlor: “Then, hke a monu
mental statue coming to life, she bent her head slowly and
gazed as if through the very heart of mystery, down into the
pig parlor at the hogs. They had settled all in one corner
nation brings her to envision the world other than it is. She
wonders how things would have gone “If Jesus had said to
her before he made her...You can either be a nigger or
white-trash.” Her preference, she decides, is for Jesus to
have made her “a neat clean respectable Negro woman,
herself but black,” changed but still saved, sidestepping the
lowly. In her other nocturnal activity, Mrs. Turpin is said to
have “occupied herself at night naming the classes of peo
ple.” She lies awake at night trying to sort out the people in
her world into classes, in accordance with their material
and social standing in the world. She assumes blindly that
she possesses the standard and judgment for the task of sav
ing and condemning. However, the fluctuations in the for
tunes of the human beings that she would rank make such a
jumble of her very attempts to rank them, that she finally
falls off to sleep, imagining them all condemned, (“she
would dream they were all crammed together in a box car,
being ridden off to be put in a gas oven.”). Her virtues
notwithstanding, Mrs. Turpin remains prey to these temp
tations, and we see her assailed by them too in the light of
{The College.
around the old sow who was grunting softly. A red glow suf
fused them. They appeared to pant with a secret life.” The
hogs have become beautiful gathered around the maternal
and musical old sow, a vision of animal life filled by grace.
This is how we can be both hogs and ourselves too.
Mrs. Turpin is herself transformed by gazing at the hogs;
she becomes a sort of priestess, raising her hands “in a ges
ture hieratic and profound.” Her transformation allows her
final vision, the bridge over which souls are marching
towards Paradise. The most respectable, the group she
thinks she belongs to, come last, and “even their virtues
were beings burned away.” In relation to salvation, virtue
doesn’t matter, nor does top and bottom, dignity and luna
cy, white and black. This, I think, completes Mrs. Turpin’s
revelation. O’Connor says, “she lowered her hands and
gripped the rail of the hog pen, her eyes small but fixed
unbhnkingly on what lay ahead.” We see what she sees, and
we see her seeing it, pig-like, with her small eyes, and still
as priestess and visionary. Is this our revelation? Our judg
ment of her has become irrelevant, just as have her judg
ments of other people. We turn with Mrs. Ihrpin back onto
the darkening path-surely O’Connor intends us to think of
Dante-and with her we hear “the voices of the souls climb
ing upward into the starry field and shouting hallelujah.”
Elizabeth (Litzi) Engel is a tutor in Santa Fe.
day. Mrs. Turpin feeds her false pride by imagining the infe
rior world or worlds that might have been. Those imagina
tions of worlds inferior to her world feature the lowly ones
of the here and now whom she judges so severely.
As Mrs. Turpin’s prideful attitudes leak out in the waiting
room conversation, they become contagious. In the chief
exchange in the waiting room, an exchange about the
Turpin farm, Mrs. Turpin and Mary Grace’s mother silent
ly join together against the opinions of the “white-trash
woman.” The two women form an alliance inasmuch as
“...both understood that you had to have certain things
before you could know certain things.” An antagonism
erupts between the poor white woman and Mrs. Turpin
regarding their differing opinions about the possessions
and associations that Mrs. Turpin has; Mrs. Turpin raises
pigs and associates with black people. According to
Mrs. Turpin, the Turpins have “a couple acres of cotton and
a few hogs and chickens and just enough white-face that
Gland can look after them himself.” That report elicits a
retort from the white-trash woman that she doesn’t want
St. John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
''The corruptive
power ofpride takes
its toll once more.''
anything to do with hogs: “Hogs. Nasty
stinking things, a-gruntin and a-rootin all
over the place.” It does not matter to her
that the Turpins have a “pig-parlor” a con
crete-floored pen where the pigs are raised
and where “Claud scoots them down with
the hose every afternoon and washes off
the floor.”
The poor woman wouldn’t stoop to
“scoot down no hog with no hose.” And as
to the black people that the Turpins hire
(“butter up”) to pick their cotton, the
“white-trash woman” is equally as
adamant: “Two thangs I ain’t going to do:
love no niggers or scoot down no hog with
no hose.” As far above the “white-trash
woman” as Mrs. Turpin seems to place
herself, the “white-trash woman” places
herself above hogs and “niggers.” The
corruptive power of pride takes its toll
once more.
In the doctor’s office, then, we witness
Mrs. Turpin’s awareness of the contingent
character of her life (“When I think who
all I could have been besides myself and
what all I got...It could have been different!”) and how that
awareness contributes to her false pride and a lack of
understanding both of who she is and of the true character
of her world. Behind her “good disposition,” we see her
judgment on the world as it is given to her. Despite the fact
that her virtue has no positive ground, she imagines that
her goodness is sufficient both to judge and re-order the
world and to do that without any assistance: “It’s no use in
having more than you can handle yourself with help like it
is.” Hers is not a position where she needs help, and she
doesn’t ask for any. She divides her world into those like
herself and Mary Grace’s mother, who don’t need help, and
those like the poor white woman. Of the latter, she thinks,
“Help them you must, but help them you couldn’t,” even
though, “To help anybody out that needed it was her philos
ophy of life.” Mrs. Turpin is saved and she is a would-be sav
ior. From that vantage point of self-sufficiency, hers is a posi
tion of gratitude. (“Oh, thank you, Jesus, Jesus, thank you!”)
But she is more grateful for what she is not than for what she
is, perhaps grateful even that she is child
less. What she does not seem to acknowl
edge is that bad things and evil itself can
not be relegated to what is not or to
absence, and for that reason in part, no one
is completely “saved” in this world, cer
tainly not by dint of one’s own efforts
alone, from the power of temptation and
malevolence.
It is in the context of her ignorance of
the forces of evil in the world that Mrs.
Turpin comes to consider Mary Grace
(“Why, girl, I don’t even know you...”),
who gives up her reading and bears wit
ness to the display of pride. She takes up
her station, staring relentlessly at Mrs.
Turpin and making ugly faces at her until
she feels the need to defend herself. But
most importantly, at the point where Mrs.
Turpin claims not to know Mary Grace,
she thinks that Mary Grace, “was looking
at her as if she had known and disliked her
all her life-all of Mrs. Turpin’s hfe, it
seemed too, not just the girl’s life.” What
there was to be known all of her hfe is
nothing but the susceptibility to temptation and the
depredations of evil which are coeval with the garden and
human existence.
Mary Grace, possessed of money, family, education, is a
real puzzle for Mrs. Turpin. So obviously lacking in grace,
she is loaded with the worldly goods by which Mrs. Turpin
partially takes her bearings. It does not make sense to her
that Mary Grace with all of her books could be possessed of a
false pride dwarfing that of her and the others. (“The girl
looked as if she would like to hurl them all through the plate
glass window.”) It does not make sense to her that Mary
Grace as Mary Grace could be a source of evil. Mary Grace
would open her eyes though, and so she throws the book at
her. The incongruity of first being silently intimidated, and
then being assaulted with a book by someone such as Mary
Grace, convinces Mrs. Turpin that there is more to the situa
tion than meets the eye. And so she seeks out Mary Grace,
“What you got to say to me?” And she receives the retorted
command, “Go back to hell where you came from, you old
{The Colleges?. John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
�aa
{Revelation}
wart hog.” When Mary Grace tells Mrs. Turpin to go to heU,
Mrs. Turpin does not understand what she means, does not
accept the evil that confronts her. She thinks that God is
telhng her that she is not saved. The second part of the story
addresses that mistake and achieves in a way a resolution to
the story.
The shift in the story from the doctor’s office to the farm
marks a shift from pride to humility, the doctor’s office hav
ing pride of place. Mrs. Turpin is so convinced that God has
abandoned her, that when she and Claud drive home, and she
looks for their house, “She would not have been startled to
see a burnt wound between two blackened chimneys.” She
and Claud he down, but she cannot escape what had hap
pened or the image of her that had been deposited in her
soul. “She had been singled out for the message.” In her feel
ing of sohtude, she cries, but when her tears dry, “Her eyes
began to burn with wrath”: she is “a respectable, hard-work
ing, church-going woman.”
When her self-pity turns to anger, Mrs. Turpin turns to
the farm community, which she rules for affirmation and
assurance of who she is. In a sense, she wants the message
to be overruled by her loved ones, her husband, her black
field hands, and her hogs. But the fact of her rule presents
a problem for her, because now she needs help. She turns to
Claud for solace-(“‘Listen here,’ she said.” ‘“What?”’
“‘Kiss me.’”)-and Claud obliges her, as he does through
out the story, “as if he was accustomed to doing what she
told him to,” but nothing happens. She turns to the black
workers, but the workers think that Mrs. Turpin is beyond
anything bad happening to her, as if “she were protected in
some special way by Divine Providence.” When Mrs.
Turpin leaves the black workers, she goes down to the pig
parlor and takes the hose from Claud; on the farm, she is
“the right size woman to command the arena before her.”
When he goes off, Mrs. Turpin begins speaking to God,
raising her questions, wanting to know how she is herself
and a hog both and how she is “saved and from hell too.” In
a final display of pride, hosing down her hogs, she rants and
raves at God until she comes to the more general form of
her question, “Who do you think you are?” the question
echoing back to her.
The humihty on the farm appears to be the antidote to the
diseased pride infesting the doctor’s office. There Mrs.
Turpin comes face to face with someone “above” her, who is
{The College.
not thankful to Jesus, who does not “read from the same
book” as she does and who takes her bearings from what
Mrs. Turpin ostensibly is, a fat, indulgent, prideful woman,
who, just like Mary Grace, “complains and criticizes all day
long.” The evil in Mary Grace would claim Mrs. Turpin for
itself; hence, the condemnation. But because Mrs. Turpin
thinks that she is saved, she thinks that evil is somehow
warded off, existing in some imaginary alternative world;
and so, she mistakenly interprets what Mary Grace says.
Mrs. Turpin mistakenly thinks that God is turning away
from her because evil makes its presence known to her and
even as having a root in her; she thinks that she is no longer
one of the saved.
But to say that God is not turning away from Mrs. Turpin
is not to say that God was not working through the force of
evil. O’Connor clearly beheves that God does work through
evil, and that He is able to do such work just because of the
inroads that evil has made in the souls of human beings. God
was not turning away from her, but turning her so that she
might face the reality of her continual need for salvation. On
the farm, in her rant, Mrs. Turpin would fight God with her
pride-until she hears herself. Then it is that the day’s lesson
begins to come clear to her, the lesson about the world and
the serpent and the lesson of Job and God and the Adver
sary. Then she sees Claud’s truck, looking “like a toy,” and
sees the downside of that technological marvel, that it could
be smashed by a bigger truck and everyone in it destroyed.
Then Ruby turns to her hogs gathered around the sow,
where “A red glow suffused them;” they were God’s crea
tures, panting “with a secret life.” Her acknowledgement of
the presence of evil in this world and of the goodness of
God’s creation even in the lowly allows her to have a vision
of a new order marching to salvation; in that order the lowly
are entering first.
It is hardly accidental that the setting of the first part of
the story is in a doctor’s office, that there is even a black den
tist in town, or that the book that Mary Grace throws at Mrs.
Turpin was titled Human Development. Today, many people
have a difficult time talking about good and evil, preferring
instead to talking about health and sickness. But O’Connor’s
character, Mrs. Turpin, when she is in need of help, does not
want the doctor’s help. What is aihng her is a matter of the
spirit. Of course, the terms in which she understands the
“classes of people” and herself belong to the contemporary
John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
^3
revelation is not a
quiet Inull...
•
United States South, where the old
notions of rank based on land owner
ship and breeding issue in such cate
gories as “good blood” and “white
trash” and “niggers.” She is a stock
character in O’Connor’s repertoire of
stories, each one having its place as in
a series of echoes originating in and
echoing from a single homeland,
O’Connor’s powerful imaginative
intellect. O’Connor is a Catholic
writer from the South, for her, the
land of the humble and the humbled.
Persisting in her faith and her South
ern roots and in allusions to the Holo
caust and the dark sides of technolog
ical life, O’Connor helps us navigate
our own darkness and locate the beau
tiful in lowly and humble lives. On
that account, in the aist century, she
is a writer whose meanings are not
only important but urgently needed.
George Russell is a tutor in Annapolis.
The Message-Bearers
by Barbara Goyette
Perhaps this story is not only about a revelation but about
revelation itself, the nature of a mysterious occurrence
that serves as a link between our everyday world (or the
somewhat off-kilter but nevertheless recognizably every
day world of Flannery O’Connor’s South) and some deeper
reality.
Revelation involves drama and it involves some kind of
truth or disclosure about something that wasn’t realized or
known before. In a theological sense, revelation involves a
manifestation of the divine will. A revelation is not a quiet
truth: Mary Grace hurls a textbook at Mrs. Turpin and then
pronounces her verdict, “You are a wart hog from Hell.”
The black field-hand ladies also tell her the truth: “ ‘Ain’t
nothing bad happen to you! ’ the old woman said. She said
it as if they all knew that Mrs. Turpin was protected in some
{The College.
7
99
special way by Divine Providence.”
This truth infuriates Mrs. Turpin; she
fervently hopes that it is as false as
Mary Grace’s revelation. And then
there’s the wild and wooly vision of the
souls marching up to heaven, violent
in its intensity and in its absolute nega
tion of all that Mrs. Turpin thinks she
believes to be right and just.
Revelation does not need proof. It
can’t be arrived at by logic, and one
can’t be persuaded to it. Revelation
suggests someone or something as the
medium of higher truth or another
level of reality. In this story, the irony
of the message-bearers-a disaffected,
angry, acne-scarred intellectual; a
troop of respectable, sycophantic field
workers; and the pigs, hosed off to spot
lessness from their naturally filthy
state-reinforces the disjunction that is
at the root of Mrs. Turpin’s sinful view.
Her sin is that of not seeing, not understanding the most
fundamental fact of grace-that it applies to everyone at all
times, no matter what their level of receptiveness or worthi
ness. Mrs. Turpin fails just as we aU fail, by virtue of being
human. The last shall be first and the first shall be last. In the
beatitudes, the unhappy are blessed and the happy are
cursed (this complementary “woe to...” set of pronounce
ments is often ignored in our recollection of the beatitudes—
it’s not only that the downtrodden have a special place in
God’s consideration, it’s that those who are successful do
not, at least not insofar as they are successful). Our measures
of success, those that Mrs. Turpin admires and with which
she measures the worthiness of others, are worse than mean
ingless. They get in the way of our understanding that we are
all in need of grace. Revelation is a gift, presented to
Mrs. Turpin and to us. It’s there every day for all of us, and
everyone around us is a messenger.
Barbara Goyette (A’^g) is vice presidentfor advancement in
Annapolis.
John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�24
{Alumni Voices}
THE HABIT OF
WRITING
BY Brigid K. Byrne, AGI03
hen I open my mailbox to find an
ingly [reflects] the object, the being, which [specifies] it.”
envelope addressed in a bold, careful
Studying O’Connor’s letters, I decided that Fitzgerald had
script and bearing an Iowa City post
given the collection the perfect name. O’Connor offered
mark, mixed in among bills and cata
her correspondents thoughts about everything: her pet
logs, I feel a small thrill, an excite
peacocks, her writing habits, and her peculiar interpreta
ment that there is something meant especially
It
tion offor
theme.
Catholic
faith. Her letters to friends, fans, pub
seems strange that finding a personal letterlishers,
in my mailbox
and fellow writers reveal a woman who wrote them
gives me so much joy. Yet, how often do we get a letter from
not only to maintain her connection to those she loved, but
someone we know and love? How often do we take the time
also to explore and reveal the parts of herself which the
to write to others? Most of the written communication we
intended recipient had the power to bring out.
send and receive are hasty e-mails, typed quickly, in lan
I was most struck by O’Connor’s correspondence with
guage created to speed up the time spent composing mes
Cecil Dawkins, a college professor who introduced herself
sages. While e-mail has perhaps kept us closer to those we
to O’Connor in a letter. Dawkins challenged O’Connor by
may otherwise have drifted apart from, our brief electron
asking her advice in matters concerning her career, her
ic conversations lack the richness and intimacy that are
desire to write, and her faith. In a response to a question
vital parts of human relationships. We compose our mes
Dawkins raised about the effectiveness of the Catholic
sages so quickly that we forfeit the benefits of self-reflec
Church, O’Connor wrote, “You don’t serve God by saying:
tion and personal growth that we can gain when we write
the Church is ineffective. I’ll have none of it. Your pain at
letters to others. The flow of thoughts seems better suited
its lack of effectiveness is a sign of your nearness to God.
to the flow of ink from the pen than to the pecking of
We help overcome this lack of effectiveness simply by suf
fingers on a plastic keyboard, and the act of sealing an enve
fering on account of it.” Reading this unusually lengthy
lope much more satisfying than hitting the “send” button.
response, I realized that Dawkins had asked a question that
I felt the loss of the art of letter writing poignantly as I
O’Connor herself struggled with and wondered if O’Con
recently revisited The Habit ofBeing, Sally Fitzgerald’s col
nor was speaking more to Dawkins or to herself.
lection of Flannery O’Connor’s letters. Fitzgerald titled
In her introduction to the book, Fitzgerald notes that “on
her collection The Habit ofBeing because she saw that the
the whole, [O’Connor’s] correspondence was an enrichment
writer’s correspondence reflected the attainment of that
of her life, to say nothing of the lives of her correspondents”
habit, which she defines as “an excellence not only of
and that “almost all of her close friendships were sustained
action but of interior disposition and activity that increas
through the post.”
W
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Alumni Voices}
As I reread
O’Connor’s let
ters, I realized
that my own
habit of letter
writing
has
enriched my life.
1 was not much
of a letter writer
until about five
years ago when
I began corre
sponding with
Sandra, an honors student from Iowa, whom I met while
interning at the U.S. Department of Education. After rais
ing her children, Sandra enrolled in a community college
near her home and was so successful in her studies that she
gained an internship through Phi Theta Kappa. Over that
summer, Sandra and I had many conversations, and I
learned much from her about courage and faith. When our
internships ended, Sandra and I exchanged addresses in the
way parting people do, intending to keep in touch, but
doubtful whether such a brief acquaintance would with
stand time and distance.
I returned to college that fall, but I could not forget San
dra. I pulled out the scrap of paper on which she had care
fully printed her address and wrote her a letter. Thus began
years of correspondence that have led me to question and
contemplate many of my ideas, choices, and beliefs. When I
first began writing to Sandra, I was feeling uncertain about
my faith. Having been raised Catholic and force-marched to
Mass, I purposefully spent each Sunday of my first few years
away at college lingering over breakfast in the dining hall,
ignoring the bells chiming at St. Paul’s, just a few hundred
yards away. I was torn between rebelling against my parents
and discovering my own sense of faith. In writing to Sandra,
I found that I could wrestle with my doubts and hesitations.
Through my letters to her, I came to recognize my struggle
was not between me and God, but one of becoming an adult.
{The College-
25
learning to make
choices for my
self. Sandra’s res
ponses, resonat
ing with her faith
in God, even in
the face of hard
ship and sorrow,
gave me the
strength to travel
my own spiritual
road. Without
Sandra as my
audience, I am not sure that I would have found that part
of myself.
While my relationship with Sandra has led me to a deeper
sense of faith, having a variety of correspondents challenges
me to look at many sides of myself. One of my favorite audi
ences is my friend Sally, who lives in Atlanta. Although Sally
and I talk on the phone frequently and see each other occa
sionally, letter writing is still an important part of our
friendship. We enjoy what Shakespeare might term “a mar
riage of true minds,” as our thoughts, interests, and experi
ences run uncannily parallel. Writing to Sally is almost like
writing to myself, except that I wait in anticipation for her
honest replies, replies that demand that I look into myself
more alertly.
In my day-to-day habit of living, running from job to job,
eating in my car, I have little time for reflection and clarity.
I have come to see this habit of living, which requires me to
direct so much energy away from myself, as distinctly differ
ent from the habit of being, which allows me to spend time
inside, listening only to myself. Like O’Connor, I have
found that I can practice my habit of being most effectively
as I sit down to write. So I will find time today to retreat
from the habit of living and write to my friend and fellow
St. John’s alumna, Sarah. I can’t wait to see what my letter
will reveal.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Johnnies
2,6
on
Aging}
THE MIND IN
WINTER
Living an ExaminedLife in Later Years
wi Sus3AN Borden, A87
would lose meaning and she knew that there have even
been suicides [among older people]. To provide meaning
to their lives, she endowed the institute, which provides
high-quality, exciting courses for seniors. The faculty,
illiam Butler Yeats
Institute, where he explores the world -W
from
a classroom.
from neighborhood universities and the U.C. Medical
“Hannah Fromm was worried that the life of retired people
Center, are also mostly seniors,” explains Brunn, who has
ohn Brunn (class of 1947) is no Magellan, no
studied history, literature, science, and music at the insti
Columbus, no Ernest Shackleford or Neil
tute since his retirement.
Armstrong, but in an important way, he has
Brunn’s explorations are important to an aging mind,
remained true to his childhood ambition to
says Helen Hobart (class of 1964). Hobart works with
become an explorer. “I thought of it then as
older people who are experiencing dementia, and she’s a
physical exploration,” he says of the ambition
true believer in the adage “use it or lose it.” “The more
that has become increasingly intellectual as he
we exercise our minds, the more protection we have from
has aged. “When I first came to California,
the effects of dementia,” says Hobart. “People who com
I fell in love with the Sierra and have spent
plete loth grade have five more years of protection from
vacations exploring the mountains, at first with friends
theand
effects of Alzheimer’s than those who don’t. You may
later with my wife. With increasing age-I have turned
be 77showing signs of the disease neurologically, but symp
that has become difficult. Most of my learning istomatically,
now
you’ve got enough other brain connections
indoors, but I am still curious about the world.”
that function because you’ve stimulated their growth, so
the assault of Alzheimer’s won’t show up.”
While keeping the mind active slows the effects of
aging, Hobart encourages us to recognize that, with the
loss of cognitive ability, other strengths can come into
Life moves out ofa redflare ofdreams
Into a common light ofcommon hours.
Brunn is fortunate to live in San Francisco, not just for
Until
old age and
brings
the but
redflare
the mountains
the city,
also foragain.
the Hannah Fromm
J
{The College -Sr. John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
�27
{Johnnies on Aging}
play. “Roughly half
of people over 85
have Alzheimer’s
and we’re aU hving
longer,” she says.
“So it behooves
us to consider
what it means to
be human in addi
tion to our cogni
tive functions. I’ve
seen a lot of suffer
ing because people
feel they’re no
longer worthwhile
because their memoryis failing or they can’t figure out how to do something
that they used to do. But there are so many wonderful
ways of being in relationship with the world and other
people. The epidemic of dementia as we grow older really
invites us to consider our humanity, our affections, our
spirituality, our art, our love of music. All these things
can thrive, even flourish, if our cognitive functioning
{The College -St
Playing the piano is
JUST ONE RETIREMENT
PURSUIT FOR
Carolyn Banks
Leeuwenburgh .
gets out of our way
a little.”
Carolyn Banks
Leeuwenburgh
(class of 1955) has
yet to notice a drop
in her cognitive
abilities. She’s an
avid reader, an
insightful conversationalist, and a freelance teacher of
English as a foreign language. She also pursues a number
of interests that will serve her well if cognition begins to
fail. A retired opera singer, she is still involved with the
arts, maintaining subscriptions at the McCarter Theater
in Princeton in drama, dance, and music. She’s also an
avid movie-goer and a fairly active practitioner of several
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�2,8
{JohnniesonAging}
experiences mostly loss. Although
arts: “I paint, very poorly, but I
only 46, Nick Giacona (SFGI98) is
paint,” she says. “I play the piano
now facing the physical effects of
poorly. I still can sing and I still sing
'Tve always believed
age as he cares for his 8i-year-old
publicly.” Leeuwenburg performs in a
thatpeople older than
mother, Betty, who moved in with
small cafe just outside of Princeton,
him and his family last spring. “My
singing mainly popular music, blues,
mepossessed some
mom is a retired schoolteacher with
and torch songs.
wisdom.
Pre
always
an alert mind and a body that’s fail
Music has been the saving grace for
ing.
She has very bad arthritis and is
many older people, even those whose
felt they were worth
pretty much confined to an electric
other faculties are deteriorating, says
working with and
wheelchair. Yet her mind is still very
Hobart. “It’s fantastic to watch people
active. She goes on the computer,
start playing the piano again. The
learninp^from, worth
does e-mail. She’s a voracious read
parts of the brain formed when we’re
sharing with.
er and we have great theological,
younger last the longest, so the capac
spiritual, and political discus
ity to play the piano can come back,”
sions,” he says.
she says. There may be no ability to
Philip Valley (SFGI75)
Giacona sees first-hand the trials
make a coherent sentence, but the
of life in an aging body. “I’m learn
reward and beauty of making music
ing day by day with her and I really
can persist for a long time.”
admire how she’s handling it,” he says. “It’s hard and
There are other compensations to counter deteriorat
frustrating for her to do the little things we take for grant
ing cognitive ability, according to Virginia Seegers Harri
ed, even something as simple as making herself a meal.
son (class of 1964), a geriatric case manager. “Over time
Yet
she’s handling that with grace and courage.”
you learn to tune out nonsense more quickly,” she says.
A discussion on aging that former Santa Fe campus
“The experience you’ve had in life makes it easier to say,
president John Agresto gave years ago left an impression
‘uh-huh, right.’ From observation and personal experi
on Giacona. “He said that our culture doesn’t really pre
ence, I would consider that a real advantage.”
pare
us for aging and death. I thought he was so wise. He
She describes the benefits that come in later years as we
said that death and aging should be the culmination of a
grow to accept our lives. “You can bring your mind to
well-lived life, an examined life,” recalls Giacona. “While
bear more easily on what is actually accessible, doable.
my mom didn’t have a St. John’s education, I’ve turned
You learn to pick your battles. You learn to pare down and
her on to the Apology and the Crito and the Tibetan Book
be satisfied. There’s a feeling in youth and middle age,
of the Dead."
‘this world is out there-where do I start?’ When some
Giacona says that his mother seems prepared for her
options have closed behind you, there can be a sense of
own death: “We’ve already discussed the whole memorial
liberation. That may be what makes working with elders
service. She wants to be cremated and have her ashes
so sweet, so affirming, for people in middle age who are
scattered where my father’s ashes were scattered. She’s
still struggling to be greater than they ever will be. When
even decided what songs we’re going to sing. If she died
people accept themselves and their lives, that in a sense is
tomorrow, she would feel that she had a good life.”
where life really begins.”
When his mother’s life does end, Giacona will consider
Harrison underscores her point with a joke: “A retired
himself lucky for the time that he and his family spent
woman is listening to several young mothers talking
with her. “My wife, Keiko, is so great and supportive. She
about when life begins. One says at conception. Another
helped convince my mom to stay with us. My mom had
says, no, it begins when the fetus quickens. A third says,
concerns about moving in and invading the family, but
‘I think life begins at birth.’ Finally, the retired woman
Keiko told her that when she was a kid her grandfather
leans over and says, ‘Listen, I’ll tell you when life begins.
lived with her family and she appreciated the time she
Life begins when the kids leave home and the dog dies.’”
spent with him.”
While it’s comforting to know that the mind enjoys
gains to offset its losses, a sad fact of aging is that the body
{The College -Sf. John’s
College - Spring 2004 }
�{JohnniesonAging}
ag
Although she’s a young
Giacona’s own chil7a, Leeuwenburg knows
dren-Sarah, 13, and
Kyle, ii-respond to his
she has some tough times
mother in different
ahead. “Many years ago I
ways. “My son is outgo
heard Bette Davis say
that getting older is not
ing and loves to hug
her and sit and talk to
for sissies,” she says. “As
her. My daughter’s really
you get older you aren’t
shy, so it’s harder for
really aware of getting
her. She appreciates hav
older, but you are aware
ing her there, but she
that you don’t do the
shows it in a different
same things you used to
way. It’s so rewarding to
do physically. There are
have three generations
times when I get out of
in one house.”
bed in the morning and I
don’t think I can move
Philip Valley (SFGI75)
runs day programs in
and other times I’m
New Hampshire for
fine.”
Leeuwenburg swims
adults over 55 with
nearly every day, but a
developmental disabili
recent cancer scare
ties. He says that sharing
revealed
her true attitude
time across the genera
Nick Giacona and his mother, Betty, are
tions is rewarding even for people LEARNING TOGETHER ABOUT AGING.
about exercise. “I was thinking, ‘hell,
who are not related. “Maggie Kuhn,
if I’m going to die. I’m certainly not
going to swim,”’ she says. “This is
head of the Gray Panthers, once
not something I’m doing for the
gave a talk where she told the audi
'She s a voracious reader sheer pleasure of it. At my age your
ence, ‘We are not wrinkled babies,
metabolism gets so slow that, even if
we are elders of the tribe.’ I’ve
and we have great
you do all your cleaning, all your gar
always believed that people older
theological, spiritual,
dening, you still have to exercise.”
than me possessed some wisdom.
Leeuwenburgh has not reached
I’ve always felt they were worth
andpolitical
working with and learning from,
the point where she feels encum
worth sharing with.”
bered by aging, but she has begun to
discussions.
ponder her own mortality. “I don’t
Harrison, the case manager, has
NickGiacona (SFGI98)
think anyone ever really comes to
nothing but scorn for those who
grips with the reality of their own
subscribe to the “wrinkled babies”
death. When we view ourselves, we
view of seniors. “Many people who
work in nursing facilities call the elderly ‘baby.’ That’s
view a disembodied creature. Chronologically, I’m 7a
absolutely not right,” she says. But she’s also disturbed by
years old. I’m at the point where I know I’m not going to
a subtler form of infantilizing. “Even older people who
be here in 20 years. Yet there’s a part of me that you could
are quite cogent are pretty much treated like they have to
stand up and say, ‘Caroline, you’re getting old,’ and I
be fed, clothed, and then amused. I really have trouble
would say, ‘I am?’”
with that. Yes, it takes time to go at the slower pace and
hear someone tell his story, but it’s usually extremely
worthwhile. I would encourage anybody to start to talk to
people over 75. Ask them about their lives. Ask them what
they remember.”
{The College* St. John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
�30
{Bibliofile}
Approaching
Machiavelli’s
Art OF War
Art of War
Niccolo Machiavelli, translated, edited,
and with a commentary by
Christopher Lynch
University of Chicago Press, 2004
hris Lynch (A87) traces the
origins of his newlypubhshed translation of
Machiavelli’s Art of War to
the questions posed hy what
is known in the academic
throats. As I studied him more, I realized that
world as the ancient/modern split.
Lynch says
Machiavelli
’s emphasis on the bellicose
that Johnnies have a more intimate
relation
aspect
of human
beings, an aspect acknowl
ship with the split, and rephrases its essence
edged but not emphasized by the ancient
for the SJC crowd: “Why was everything so
philsophers, was part of his overall goal to
much fun sophomore year and why did
transform the terms in which human life is
everyone get so depressed junior year?”
generally understood.”
Lynch arrived at the University of
Fortunately for Lynch, his academic inter
Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought in
ests dovetailed with a hole in Machiavelli
the fall of 1988 with this question (in its grad
scholarship. Of Machiavelli’s four major
school expression) very much on his mind:
vtorks—Prince, Discourses on Livy, Florentine
What is the end of human hfe? Is man natu
Histories, and Art q/' UAr-almost no one had
rally social or essentially alone? What is the
seriously studied Art of War. Lynch threw
purpose of philosophy? As he pursued these
himself into that text and, seven years (and a
questions, Lynch came to see Machiavelli as
Ph.D.) later, emerged with an impressive
the pivotal writer in the transformation
between the ancient and modern worlds.
“The most sahent aspects of the transfor
mation that Machiavelli tried to affect were,
first, to change the general climate of opinion
“Controversy abounds as to what caused
and discourse such that human hfe would no
the dizzying military changes during
longer be understood in terms of its ultimate
Machiavelli’s day. Also debated is
goal or purpose but instead in terms of its
whether these changes constituted a
origins and roots,” says Lynch. “The second
full-blown military revolution or instead
is the attempt to bring about in this world the
represented a particular moment in a
best regime human beings can come up with,
long-term evolution. In considering
the best way of living together, instead of
these questions, it is important to
leaving it to chance hke Plato. And the third
remember that the sense at the time was
is really a corollary of the first, to get subse
that tumultuous change was indeed
quent thinkers to be primarily concerned
afoot, but not rapid change in a single
with human freedom and independence as
direction driven by gunpowder technol
opposed to virtue as understood as obhgation
ogy. On the tactical level especially,
and duty to something higher.”
each of the battles that occurred on the
These issues gave Lynch a clear direction
Italian peninsula, from the battle of
for his graduate work. “The more I saw
Fornovo in 1495 to that of Pavia in 1525,
Machiavelli as the key figure in the
seemed to offer a new lesson to be
ancient/modern spht, the more I wanted to
learned, a new innovation that trans
figure out what was on his mind,” Lynch says.
formed the ways armies ought to be
“I started to see war as central to his thought,
armed, ordered, led and used.”
to understand that for Machiavelli, humans
- Christopher Lynch
are not social beings, but at each others’
C
Excerpt:
{The College -Sf.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
pubheation to his credit: a translation of the
text with an introduction, interpretive essay,
and (he points out with the pride of a Johnnie
who’s successfully negotiated secondary
sources) more than 600 notes.
Lynch originally wrote the translation for
himself, “blasting through it” in just a few
months, he says. “I wrote the initial transla
tion as a way to study it carefully. I translated
it as literally as I could so I could think about
it the way we do with readings in language
class, as a tool for closer reading,” he says.
Over several years. Lynch returned to the
translation, making changes after improving
his Italian by translating works by Machiavelh’s predecessors, including Dante and
Boccaccio. Later, when he decided to submit
a proposal to the University of Chicago Press
to turn his translation into a book, he first
reworked a portion of the text to see if he
could make it valuable to other readers.
Once the proposal was accepted. Lynch
had to rewrite the entire translation several
times. In the process, he discovered a practi
cal approach to translation that satisfactorily
answered for him the issues that arise in
discussions about translation in St. John’s
language tutorials: “You start off as literal
and as consistent as you can, then you puU the
translation back toward understandabihty,
readability and accuracy,” he says, “In the
next phase, you forget about the Italian and
ask what the passages mean in Enghsh and
how they sound. If it’s not in readable
English, you pull the Itahan out again and
start thinking about changes.”
Lynch notes that this is not the process for
most non-Johnnie or non-Strauss-influenced
translators. “They think about how it sounds
right away,” he explains. “But I think that
puts too much emphasis on the translator and
makes him think he is a sort of god mediating
between two languages with full omniscience
of what the author intended. I think it’s better
to approach it humbly, to cleave to the hteral
andonlybepushed toward readabi 1 i ty when
it’s clearly necessary.”
With the time and energy Lynch lavished
on Art of War, you’d think he’d be a fierce
Machiavellian, but that’s hardly the case.
“Machiavelli presents himself as the
ultimate antagonist to the basic understand
ings that I’m inclined to-ancient, philosoph
ic, and religious,” Lynch says. “However, I
think he’s also the most trenchant critic of
ancient thought, both philosophic and rehgious, and therefore I see him as the person
to understand if I’m going to understand the
truth about the big questions at stake in the
quarrel between ancients and moderns.”
-SUS3AN Borden
�{Alumni Profile}
31
Tias Little, EC98
Santa Fe Yogi Combines Wisdom with Practice
BY Andra Maguran
such as the Upanishads, the Yoga Sutra and
he word “yoga” once con
Bhagavad-Gita, along with studying San
jured images of health nuts
skrit or ancient Chinese in order to read
contorting their bodies in
works in their original language.
impossible, seemingly
Reared in Amherst, Mass., Little attend
painful positions. Now
ed Amherst College, where he earned a
women, men, even children
bachelor
are flocking in droves to yoga. An
estimat’s degree in English. Inspired by
mother,
who also taught yoga. Little
ed 15 million Americans say theyhis
have
a
began his studies in the Iyengar system in
regular practice; more than double that
the early 1980s, and continued his study in
number say they expect to try yoga in the
Mysore, India. Frequent trips to visit his
next year, according to a Harris poll. The
grandfather, a Presbyterian minister who
reasons for yoga’s newfound popularity are
served on the board of directors at
many: stress reduction, improved strength
Abiquiu’s Ghost Ranch, fed Little’s love for
and flexibility, and heightened concentra
New Mexico. He moved to Santa Fe in 1991
tion are among the many benefits linked to
to teach yoga, and in January aooo, he
this 5,ooo-year-old practice.
opened Yoga Source with his wife, Surya.
Inside Yoga Source, a small studio
Little began hearing about the Eastern
tucked into a Santa Fe shopping center,
Classics program at Santa Fe, established
studio founder Tias Little {EC98) walks
in 1994, from others in the Santa Fe yoga
among the students after his morning
community. Friend and fellow yoga teacher
class, preternaturally serene, his voice as
Nicolai Bachman (EC96) persuaded him
soft as a temple bell. Like yoga teachers
that the fledgling program was worth
everywhere. Little is benefiting from the
pursuing. “I was very enthusiastic [about
wave of yoga popularity-his studio sched
Eastern Classics] from the first day,” says
ules more than 40 classes every week,
Bachman, who now leads workshops across
many of them packed. The Santa Fe
the country in Sanskrit, Ayurveda (healing
New Mexican recently described Little
as “one of the emerging stars
of the yoga phenomenon.” He
leads classes for yoga teachers,
writes articles and serves as an
expert for a leading yoga
magazine, holds clinics all over
the country, and offers yoga
retreats in venues such as
Costa Rica.
But even if the craze wanes
and the numbers drop. Little
believes that people will con
tinue to seek out something
beyond yoga’s physical
benefits. His own devotion to
the practice, he says, was
informed and deepened by
intense study of the works in
the St. John’s Eastern Classics
program, a yearlong program
in which students read works
T
Tias Little’s yoga practice is
INFORMED BY HIS STUDY OF
Eastern classics.
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
arts), and the Yoga Sutra. “I knew it would
be a great chance for Tias to deepen his
understanding of the Indian, as well as
Chinese and Japanese, traditions.”
Little began by auditing a seminar on the
Upanishads, after which he applied to the
program in full. After 15 years of practice.
Little hoped to find a solid foundation in
the original texts for his own philosophy
toward yoga, the Mahayana Buddhist
“middle way” teachings that are pertinent
to living in the world today. He had previ
ously read the Bhagavad-Gita and Yoga
Sutra on his own, but the formalism and
structure of a discussion-based graduate
program offered a key to deeper learning,
he says.
“The texts are complex and philosophi
cal,” Little says. “It would have required
an intense practice and austerity to have
read the works on my own and gained as
much insight and understanding of them.
The dialogue that the classroom setting
encourages is far superior to simply
reading alone.”
For Little, the Eastern Classics program
afforded a marriage oiprajna (wisdom)
andsadhana (practice).
Wisdom training comes
through study of scriptures
that are the historical backdrop of the practice. “Just as
scholarship feeds the practice
of yoga, so the practice feeds
the scholarship. To me, just
reading can become very eso
teric if one tries to cognitively
grasp the teachings one needs
to embody, or engage through
psycho-spiritual discipline.
The two modes of understand
ing are cooperative, but not
interchangeable. ”
Little encourages yoga
teachers-in-training to enroll
in Eastern Classics; already,
two Yoga Source instructors,
Wendelin Scott (EC03) and
Lynsey Rubin (ECoa), have
completed the graduate
program.
�{AlumniNotes}
3^
1935
and dance to a caUer. Will any of
the class of 1944 be at our 60th
anniversary?”
“I’m in my goth year,” writes
Melville L. Bisgyer. “My beloved
wife, Pauline, passed away a few
years ago. I now make my home
comfortably in a retirement home
named Signature Pointe. Many of
my children, including the normal,
the grand, and the great, live near
by. I shall never forget St. John’s.
I spent four very happy years there.
I wish good luck and much happi
ness to all my fellow Johnnies.”
1937
“Just a word from the Class of’37Bob Snibbe alive and well-will be
91 in April. Still playing golf and
still publishing small shirt-pocket
handbooks. One on ‘Our Flag,’ the
story of Old Glory... sold in large
quantities to big companies for
sales promotion purposes. I call
Harry Fahrig (Class of ’37) from
time to time. He is very sick and in
a nursing assisted living facility.
His wife, Frannie, was a former
model for Ponds-‘she’s lovely, she
uses Ponds’- ads in the ’30s and
’40s. They live in Jupiter, Fla. Also
call Alan Pike (’37 too). He’s also
in an assisted living facility with
his wife in Deland, Fla. And my
brother Dick, class of’39, lives in
Arlington, Mass. He’s also in an
assisted living facility recuperating
from a stroke. Have fond memories
of days in Crabtown. Football and
lacrosse. B.C. great books.”
1944
John Davis Hill writes that he and
his wife, Dorothy Murdock Hill,
spent the winter in Southern
California attending four Elder
hostel programs sponsored by the
University of Judaism at Camp
Ramah in Ojai and at their Bel Air
campus. “We like to sing folk songs
1947
Changes for Stephen Benedict:
“Three years ago, I pulled up
stakes in New York City after
40 years and moved 125 miles north
to the hamlet of Spencertown in
Columbia County. After prowling
the area, I bought an old farmhouse-type structure, whose earli
est segment dates to about 1750.
It’s said to be the second- or thirdoldest house in the area. The
transition from city life turned out
to be seamless. Time, of which
there’s never enough, is variously
allocated to work on family and
personal archives, the nearby cul
tural center, the local Democratic
Party, and play—the piano, tennis,
and cats. Then there’s always fixery
to be done on my ancient structure.
I do maintain one interest in NYC,
the Theatre Development Fund,
which I helped found 37 years ago.
Watch for the new half-price booth
in Times Square. Drop by if you’re
up this way: 518-392-0487;
stevebenedict@taconic.net.”
1949
Frederick P. Davis sends news
from California: “Since last report
ing from this always sunny and
warm southwest corner of the
‘lower 48,’ we ‘3-Ds’ (Fred, Rita,
and son David) are still holding
the line as ‘Mr. Outside’ and
‘Mrs. Inside’ (the house). David
recovers from infections of both
legs and feet resulting from badly
broken legs of late aooo. But
things are looking up. David, after
over a year at a Riverside City Con
valescent home, should soon come
home. He is now equipped with a
motorized wheelchair, enabling
him to be on his own to go out to
see docs.”
David B. Weinstein has retired
from the practice of medicine and
is living with his wife, Stella, in
Atlanta to be near his daughter and
her family. “Attending senior class
es at Mercer University and learn
ing to play the recorder to keep the
gray cells and fingers limber.”
do’s top was the thrill of a lifetime,
along with riding through a city
rainforest to get there. Anticipat
ing my trip to Alaska in July.”
i960
Peter J. Ruel sends in a book
1955
With a July production of
La Traviata, Harold Bauer will
conclude a 27-year tenure as music
director of New Philharmonic and
DuPage Opera in Chicago’s west
suburban region. His 42 years as a
conductor include the music
directorship of six orchestras in
the U.S. and numerous guest
concerts in this country, Canada,
and Europe. What’s next? More
reading, traveling, painting (oil
and watercolor), golf, composing,
and, of course, some guest con
ducting. He looks forward to the
50th reunion of his class in 2005.
1957
News from Joan Cole: “I am
continuing to enjoy my retirement.
With friends, I attend the Metro
politan Opera and work with the
New York Black Librarians Cau
cus, raising funds for scholarships.
Am also enjoying my vacations-in
September 2003,1 went to Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. Viewing the Christ
the Redeemer statue on Corcova
recommendation: “Thomas Cahill
has written an insightful history of
the ancient Greeks, printed 11/03:
Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why
the Greeks Matter.”
1961
Harrison Sheppard has been a
regular columnist for San
Francisco Attorney Magazine.
the quarterly journal of the Bar
Association of San Francisco.
“The regular title of the column is
‘Law and Justice,’ with a subtitle
relating to the particular column
subject. For the most recent col
umn (Winter 2004), the subtitle is
‘Law and Privacy: The Right To Be
Let Alone.’”
1962
JusTiNA Davis Hayden sends in
good news: Justina and Luci, her
partner of ig years, were married
in San Francisco on February 19.
A magical day! They are living in
San Diego now, having sold their
Startup to Success
(class of 1956) is now
general manager of Word Web Vocabulary, a new
curriculum for grades 5-10. “From a startup last
year we are now in 55 school districts in 16 states
plus Barbados. Word Web is a paperworkbook
system based on root words, prefixes, and suffixes,
all of which are Greek and Latin in origin. Grant Wiggins
{A72) thinks it’s an excellent way to approach vocabulary.”
ASQUALE L. POLILLO
P
{The College -St John’s
College • Spring 2004 }
�{Alumni Notes}
33
Mark Bernstein (A) writes; “Linda
(Bernstein, nee Torcaso, A69) and
I are looking forward to our last
child graduating high school and
going off to college. I’m a judge in
Philadelphia court doing class
actions and about to finish a book
on Pennsylvania evidence. Linda is
also a judge of the Social Security
Administration.”
Courtesy of The Moon, Santa Fe students and hobbes
house in Berkeley. Luci is an artist
whose work from recycled materi
als may be seen at CorrugatedArt.
com. Justina designed and main
tains the web site. She is enrolled
in a certificate program in Finan
cial Planning and is having fun
with investing.
practicing law in Washington,
D.C., and is writing for the local
newspaper in her spare time.
“Am looking forward to the next
reunion of the Class of’65.”
“Niece Megan Drolet, daughter of
Melissa Kaplan (SF72) and Ray
Drolet (SF69) will be coming to
Annapolis this fall, continuing the
Kaplan/Drolet tradition,” writes
1963
Bart L. Kaplan.
Charles B. Watson (A) writes that
Madeline Rui Koster writes:
“I was very much looking forward
to attending the 2003 40th class
reunion, since as a Californian I
have not been back to Annapolis in
40 years. A sudden change in my
teaching assignment (high school)
from all algebra to algebra and
ceramics, in September, led me to
change my plans. I was a potter and
ceramic sculptor for 20 years
before becoming a full-time
teacher in the Bos. I look forward
to another Homecoming. As time
goes on, I value the St. John’s edu
cation more than ever, and greatly
enjoy reading The College.'"
Michael Trusty attended
Homecoming 2003 in Annapolis
and had a great time: “I’m
married, living in New Mexico, and
ride horses with my 12-year-olddaughter.”
1965
Grace Logerfo Bateman is
married, is the mother of four chil
dren (mostly out of college), is
Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Fran
cisco, the inaugural Distinguished
Alumni Award for “unique and
distinguished ministry in the
church and especially pioneering
contributions to liturgical
practice.” The church’s Web site,
www.saintgregorys.org, docu
ments this practice (and theory)
with extensive photos and articles.
Rev. Schell is a 1971 graduate of
General Seminary; his co-rector, a
1970 graduate.
1968
“Finally finished my B.A. in 1999only 30 years late-at Thomas
Edison State College,” writes
Megan Beaumont (A, formerly
Anne Beaumont Reid). “Received
an M.A. in Spiritual Psychology
2001. Nowadays I am an ordained
non-denominational clergy person
and spend my time leading person
al growth workshops, teaching
manifestation and self-forgiveness,
and officiating at marriages,
memorial services, and most
recently at an un-handfasting-a
spiritual ceremony to honor and
complete the severing of ties after
a civil divorce. My husband has
retired, and we are enjoying the
blessings of good health and happy
travel.”
“I’m somehow still in Britian!”
writes Deborah Rodman
Lawther (SF).
The General Theological Seminary
Alumni Association awarded
Donald Schell (SF) and Richard
Fabian, co-rectors of St. Gregory of
{The College.
he was sorry to miss the 35th
reunion of the Class of 1968 last
year, but he enjoyed e-mail and
pictures. “Spring has finally come
and our family looks forward to
visiting our Martha’s Vineyard
home again. Happy to say that we
are all well and enjoying diverse
pursuits. Would come to SJC more
often but we are far away...”
News from Bob Wycoff (A) and
Maya Hasegawa (A), first from
Bob: “Bob’s computer system
support job is going to India and
Bob has enrolled in Berklee College
of Music as a full-time undergradu
ate to pursue a B.A. in music,
starting in September. Four
grandchildren and still counting;
number five is due in August.
See you in October! ” And from
Maya: “Maya is now working as
compliance manager for the City of
Boston’s Department of Neighbor
hood Development. DND builds
affordable housing, finances
rehabs, and helps small businesses.
The satisfaction comes from seeing
formerly vacant lots with houses on
them. Spare time is spent practic
ing tai chi and researching a
Methodist deaconess named
Hattie B. Cooper.”
1970
Isaac Block (SFGI) writes:
1969
High praise for tutor Steve Van
Luchene’s second Tecolote
colloquium for K-12 teachers from
Elizabeth Aiello (SFGI), who
found it “even more gratifying and
professionally stimulating than the
first one. It inspired me to expand
my Great Books class by offering
two more sections. Each section
has 12 students, all enthusiastically
participating in meaningful
dialogue related to meaningful
text. I have been honored as a ‘Los
Alamos Living Treasure’ in recog
nition of my 14 continuous years as
‘the Great Books Instructor.’”
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
“My wife, Mamerza Delos Reyes
Block, has published her book.
The Price ofFreedom: The Story of
a Courageous Manila JournaHst."
Last fall, Theda Braddock Fowler
(A) published her second book.
Wetland Regulation: Case Law,
Interpretation, and Commentary.
After an illustrious career with the
Postal Service and World Bank
(over 30 years and 83 foreign coun
tries), Juan Ianni (A) has decided
that it’s time to hang up his spurs.
classnotes continued on page 36
�{Alumni Profile}
34
Rich and Famous
Ben Bloom, Aq7, Finds Fame, Fortune—and Something Even More Important.
vi Sus3Aw Borden, A87
embers of the
Annapolis class of
1997 may not be
surprised to learn
that classmate
Ben Bloom (A97)
has achieved a degree of celebrity. He was
certainly well known as a student, and his
jump-head-hrst approach to life revealed a
boom-or-bust attitude that leads those who
meet him to believe that he is not destined
for an ordinary life.
Indeed, he is not. Today, seven years
after graduation, he has won a measure of
fame in three categories: Scrabble, poetry,
and table tennis.
Bloom was already a skilled Scrabble
player when he arrived at St. John’s, but
since graduating, he has played in tourna
ments in Italy, Israel (his home for much of
his life), Turkey, Norway, Reno, San Diego,
Tennessee, and Florida. Although his cur
rent rating is 1428, at the height of his play
in March 2003, he was rated 1649 (a rating
over 1600 is considered expert).
Bloom learned of his Scrabble-world
celebrity in 2003 when he was flying to
Reno for the National Scrabble Champi
onships. “I had to fly via O’Hare airport in
Chicago. There were several players there,
wearing their typical Scrabble t-shirts,” he
recalls. “In the airport lounge, I saw a bald
guy in his early 4os-black pants, white
t-shirt, and two red braces with which he
was continually fiddling. I recognized him
as Joel Sherman, the 2002 National Cham
pion and one of the top three players in the
world. I got up the courage to ask him if I
was correct in identifying him. He said,
‘Yes, and you are Ben Bloom.’”
Stefan Fatsis, a Wall Street Journal
reporter and author of Word Freak, a New
York Times bestseller about Scrabble, also
knew who Bloom was before the two were
paired in an expert match in the 2002
he read from his thesis at Books & Books, a
finals in San Diego. Bloom beat him and
prominent Miami bookstore.
walked away from the match with a signed
As for table tennis. Bloom has been prac
copy of his book.
In the world of poetry. Bloom is complet ticing for years. He was an aggressive play
er at St. John’s and shared the Annapolis
ing his final semester at the University of
campus titles in men’s doubles and mixed
Miami, where he received his master’s
doubles in 1996. When he lived in Israel,
degree in poetry in May. His 15 minutes of
he played in the National League for the
poetry fame took place on March 31, when
M
{The College -St. John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
For the poet in Ben Bloom, words have
GREAT MEANING. FoR THE SCRABBLE PLAYER,
they’re just part of the game.
�{Alumni profile}
suggestion: “During my late teens I was
disabled (he has cerebral palsy). After
graduation, he took his game on the road,
still in denial with regards to my CP. I
wanted to fit in with other students and
coming in third at the European Disabled
was ashamed of being different. This feel
Championships in Budapest in 1998 and
winning the silver medal at the World
ing turned into anger and resentment. I
Games for CP athletes in 2001.
wanted nothing to do with other people
Thus accounts for the fame. The fortune
with CP as I felt this would be letting go of
my aspirations, a stupid concept which I
is a different matter. It stems from the con
look back on and thank God I have come so
ditions of Bloom’s birth, which are both
far in the last decade.”
tragic and miraculous. The short version is
Bloom has indeed come far. He is calm
this: Ben was born brain dead. The attend
ing nurses thought he
and relaxed, accepting
was stillborn. His par
and tolerant. He has
grown into a man with a
ents asked the hospital
strong, healthy sense of
staff to do all they
himself. It would be
could so they put him
in an incubator. After
impossible to recount
all that went into that
72 hours, he came to
growth, but Bloom cites
life. The staff said that
a particularly transfor
if he survived a week it
mative experience he
would be a miracle.
had during the World
The price of that
Games for CP athletes.
miracle is cerebral
“While there I felt
palsy, the condition
like never before,” he
that Bloom has lived
says. “I made friends
with-and struggled
with other CP athletes
against-his entire life.
from Russia and France.
In 1999, after a nineI speak French well, so
year legal battle.
-Ben Bloom
it was easy to break the
Bloom settled out of
ice with them. Many
court with the hospi
athletes had more
tal. A profile of Bloom
severe CP than me, and were very hard to
by Sam Orbaum, Web-published in 2000,
understand. We communicated through
sums up his situation: “He is now, in the
other means; the bond that we shared, of
most grotesquely literal sense, a self-made
being equal, made for a wonderful feeling.
millionaire.”
At the end of the Games, we had a party
Bloom’s cerebral palsy makes him hard
to understand, contorts his face, and gives
with Karaoke. All of us moved the same
him a peculiar, dragging walk. But it’s not
way. All of us had the same unclear voice.
just his speech, gait, and appearance that
There was an intense feeling of cama
raderie and equality.”
CP has disfigured. His condition has also
Bloom is now finishing his thesis-a col
affected his sense of self.
lection of 50 poems that reveal much about
Bloom has a history of buoying up his
him and the way his world is shaped by
challenged sense of self with humor. The
cerebral palsy. His poem, “Jane Fonda’s
Orbaum article quoted some of his witti
(pain in the) Neck Workout” describes the
cisms: “Hey, you know what happens when
mechanics of dealing with a stranger’s
I have a few beers?” Bloom asks. “I talk
insults. “Special Olympics” describes a
clear and walk straight.” He describes giv
night out for eight people with CP. In the
ing his own brand of speech therapy to a
crowd: “I make them repeat the alphabet
poem, the group tries to order drinks:
“Two Heinekens, two Carlsbergs, two
after me, with all 26 letters sounding
Guinness and two Everclears./Five min
exactly the same.”
utes trying to communicate, then we settle
Humor, of course, does not heal all
for eight domestic beers.”
wounds, and Bloom has not always known
In “The Extremities Of A Line Are
how to salve them. When he first arrived at
Points,” Bloom describes the obstacles,
St. John’s, several people unwittingly
both interior and exterior, of everyday
found themselves on his bad side by sug
events. The poem reveals Bloom’s writing
gesting he get to know Santa Fe tutor
for all it is: story, insight, therapy, balm,
Robert Sacks, who also has CP. An older
and wiser Bloom recalls why he hated that
''All ofus moved the
same way. All ofus
had the same
unclear voice.
There was an
intensefeeling of
camaraderie and
equality.
{The College -St John’s
College • Spring 2004 }
35
The Extremities Oe
A Line Are Points
-Euclid, Elements., Book i. Definition
3
Standing in line
Motionless
Passing glances from strangers
Maybe three-quarters of a second
longer than normal
Nothing to get upset about.
“Next!”
Four steps to reach the desk
One-two-three-four
People have other things on their
minds
They’re here for a reason
They’re all adults
They’re not going to stare.
“Next!”
They want to rush me
No, it’s not me
Don’t be oversensitive
Do other people have these inner
dialogs?
Am I Socrates or his interlocutor?
“Hi. I'm here to... ”
Said too much
She’s been working all day
No patience for me
No patience for my voice
Fuck it
Can’t stop now.
“For my appointment. ”
Confusion. Disappointment. Disgust.
Pity.
The myriad of facial expressions tell a
familiar story
The patented neck strain won’t be too
far away
Yup, here it comes
In answer to your next question, “I’m
here alone.”
“Is anyone responsiblefor
this... guy?”
Should I look around?
Should I glare at the people behind
me?
No point. One day they’ll read about it.
In a poem.
They can wait.
“Next!”
�{AlumniNotes}
36
et al.), ‘What constitutes scientific
proof?’ Very fun.”
1971
In April, pediatrician Linda
Belgrade Friehling (SF71)
embarked on a trek to Everest Base
Camp to raise funds for Himalayan
Health Care, serving the people of
rural Nepal. In a fund-raising letter
she sent along, she described the
trek and its mission: “We will cover
lao miles on foot and attain an
elevation of 18,500 feet. The funds
raised will support the completion
of a project sponsored by
Himalayan Health Care. Himalayan
Health Care is a small non-govern
mental organization founded
approximately a decade ago by a
Nepalese and an American to
promote better health and life in
remote rural areas of Nepal. With a
dedicated group of volunteers,
including physicians, dentists,
nurses, and other professionals,
this small organization has facilitat
ed impressive improvements in pre
natal care, infant mortality, dental
hygiene, and overall health for over
40,000 people. Learn more by
visiting the Web site: (Himalayanhealthcare.org)...One of the things
that has impressed me most about
Himalayan Health Care, is the
forward-looking approach that
emphasizes educating the Nepalese
team to carry out on a day-to-day
basis vastly improved health prac
tices. In a country that currently
has one doctor to 32,000 people,
I feel this is the only way to make a
substantive difference.” For more
information, e-mail her at:
tlofftrax@aol.com.
From Colorado, Michael
ViCTOROFF (A) writes: “After
nearly five years as medical
director for Aetna, I left to work
as an investigator for the Depart
ment of Toxicology at the Universi
ty of Colorado Medical School.
Officially, I’m a private detective.
Our group has M.D.s and Ph.D.
toxicologists. We investigate
medical claims of inquiry from
environmental chemicals. Sort of
like Erin Brockovich-only we use
science. Much of the most difficult
work is philosophical (Karl Popper
1972
Wesley Sasaki-Uemura (A) writes,
“On December i, 2003, we
finalized the adoption of Melina
Mei (Xin Yi) Sasaki-Uemura. She
was born October of 2002 in
Jiangxi province, China. She has
‘smiling eyes.’”
IleneLee (A) reports: “McKee
(A72) and Ilene’s daughter, Mollie,
now 25, is completing her first year
at Yale Law School after a summer
South American tour that ended
with sailing from Galapagos to
Tahiti on a 37-foot catamaran. Ilene
has a busy play therapy practice in
the San Francisco area, specializing
in autism and consulting with
schools.”
1973
Jose F. Grave de Peralta (A) is
taking a group of art and architec
ture students from the University of
Miami to Florence, Italy, for six
weeks to learn fresco painting and
restoration. Side trips include
Assisi, Rome, and Pompeii to view
fresco sites in those places as well.
1976
Jonathan Mark (A) was a recent
William Malloy (SF) writes that
he took early retirement in Decem
ber 2003 for health reasons. “Now
I have the opportunity to work four
mornings a week holding prema
ture babies and to concentrate on
improving my health. Additionally,
I am a volunteer reporter for KPFT
(Keep People Free, Thinking), the
local Pacifica station in Houston.
Not only can I put up a couple of
alumni who may be passing
through Houston, I am also accept
ing invitations to visit alumni.
Particular consideration will he
given to those invitations that are
accompanied by a prepaid airhne
ticket. Kidding? No, really, I mean
it!”
David Pex (SF) is “working hard as
contributor to Popular Science
magazine and built an off-road
course for Toyota in San Antonio.
From Steven and Melissa Sedlis
(both A): “Our daughter Elizabeth
is a first-year medical student at
Columbia College of Physicians
and Surgeons. Our daughter
Jennifer will graduate in May from
Scripps College, Claremont, Calif.”
1974
From California, Gerard (A) and
Daphne Kapolka write: “Daphne
(nee Greene, A76) retired from the
Navy in July. She is now a senior
lecturer in physics at the Naval
Postgraduate School in Monterey.
Gerry continues to teach English at
Santa Catalina School in Monterey.
Basia Kapolka (Aoi) is studying
acting in New York City.”
John Rees (A) is working hard as a
tele-neuroradiologist: “I live for my
work and my family. I greatly enjoy
participating in a small seminar
group of old SJC friends!”
{The College.
1975
is not yet completely comfortable
with the “Transgender Club” and
similar organizations constituting
student life today-but he’s trying.
He is feehng very old these days.
A career change for Idell KesselMAN (AGI): “After more than 20
years of teaching college composi
tion, literature, and other related
courses, followed by two years as a
vocational rehabilitation counselor,
I am working as a psychotherapist
at a nonprofit agency in Phoenix
operating under a managed care
system. In July I begin a one-year
residency in Dialectical Behavior
Therapy, a cognitive approach to
helping individuals with Borderline
Personality Disorder. My daughter
Bisa, nearly 25, is completing her
master’s in education this June,
with several years of elementary
teaching already completed. We
live in our separate apartments in
Phoenix, with our own cats and
habits. It helps us to keep our
friendship strong. I’d enjoy hearing
from old friends and tutors:
ideleyz@earthlink.net.”
1977
Brad Davidson (A) still lives in
Annapolis with his wife, Lynne, and
children Teddy and Lucy. He’s been
taking Teddy on college visits and
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
the finance director at Ecos Con
sulting, which implements energy
efficiency programs for electric and
gas utility companies. Write me at
dpcx@qwest.net.”
Carla S. Schick (A) won an
honorable mention in the Barbara
Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Award.
The poem, “The End of the
Words,” can be found at www.
wagingpeace.org.
Marlene Strong (A) has news:
“After a year of being a lady of
leisure, which I spent fixing up my
new house and garden in Boise, I’m
starting work at a therapy center,
so I’ll finally get to use my hardearned MET (Marriage and Family
Therapist) license. Life in Idaho is
calmer; Boise is small enough that
you know your neighbors, but large
enough to have plenty of culture,
and the mountains are beautiful.
Any classmates are invited to stop
by if you’re in the neighborhood-if
not, see you for our 30th reunion.”
�{Alumni Notes}
1978
Robert McMahan (SFGI) reports
that he is now full professor at The
College of New Jersey and has given
many recent concerts both as per
former and composer. His wife,
Anne, continues to teach at the
Pennington School, working with
West African drumming. Renais
sance recorder, and Native
American music.
An invitation from Lawrence
Ostrovsky (A); “I see a lot of gray
haired people in the summer who
come up here to visit Alaska. So
I’m sure there must be someone
from the class of ’78. If you find
yourself up this way, please give me
a ring.”
1980
Leanne J. Pembvrn (A) writes:
“After five years of planning and
hard work, Mark and I have com
pleted phase I of home building in
our woods. Next phase will be straw
bale-all help is very welcome for
the bale raising. Contact me via
e-mail: leanne@pemburn.com.”
Tom G. Palmer (A) sends a quick
update: “I was in Iraq in February
under the auspices of the Ministry
of Education and the American
Federation of Teachers for a
conference for educators on civic
education and have been working
to get a lot of important books
translated into Arabic and pub
lished. In addition. I’m helping
Iraqi libertarian friends to set up a
think tank there, for the purposes
of educating people in the princi
ples of classical liberalism and
producing policy studies for the
new Iraqi government on how to
reform the judiciary to secure the
rule of law and the protection of
the rights to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness, how to priva
tize state-owned industries, and so
forth. I’m leaving this Wednesday
for the European meeting of the
Mont Pelerin Society in Hamburg
(Free Trade from the Hanseatic
League to the EU) and from there
to Moscow to give a paper, ‘The
Role of Law and Institutions in
Economic Development’ at a
conference, ‘A Liberal Agenda for
the New Century: A Global
Perspective.’ I hope to be back in
Iraq in May and July to set up a
series of seminars for students,
some of which will involve SJC-like
seminars and discussions, as well as
lectures.
I’ve recently published a few
items, including a monograph,
‘Globalization and Culture:
Homogeneity, Diversity, Identity,
Liberty’ (published by the Liberales
Institut in Berlin for worldwide
distribution through the many
offices of the Friedrich-Naumann
Stiftung) and a paper, ‘Globaliza
tion, Cosmopolitanism, and
Personal Identity in the Italian
journal Etica e Politica. ’ I’ve got
a few other items in the works,
as well.
All in all. I’m keeping busy and
off the streets.”
37
Susan Read (SFGI) writes that her
1986
“Greetings, SJC,” writes Clayton
DeKorne (A). “I live now half time
in Burlington, Vermont, with my
daughters, Cecilia (16) and Helen
(14), and halftime in Brooklyn,
N.Y., with my new wife, Robin
Michals. I work as a full-time free
lance writer with regular assign
ments at The New York Times
Learning Network and a steady
stream of multi-media production
work from a handful of education
media companies. I would love to
hear from old friends and any John
nies interested in the brave new
world of online learning:
cdekorne@verizon.net. ”
son, Harry, is a thriving 8-year-old.
“We have just bought the house of
our dreams. I continue to enjoy
teaching English at Wooster
School.”
1988
Juliet Burch (A) writes from
Boston: “David (Vermette, A85)
and I are still happily impoverished
in Boston. I am apprenticing to be a
film projectionist and he is
researching Franco-American and
Quebec history alongside an edito
rial job. We continue to use our
St. John’s education for good
instead of evil, vigilantly keeping
cocktail party conversations away
from portfolio talk and on track
with suitable topics like ‘what is
color, anyway?’”
About the Tattoos
1982
Geoffrey Henebry (SF) writes:
“Ana and I and our brood of seven
(Patrick, Claudia, Gus, Thomas,
Isabel, Maria, and Tessie) continue
to enjoy the Good Life here in
Lincoln, Neb. My research over the
past five years has been diverse:
from modeling the ranges of native
vertebrate species in Nebraska to
analyzing the consequences of the
collapse of the Soviet Union on the
annual cycle of greenness in
Kazakhstan.”
1983
Theodore Zenzinger (A) just had a
daughter: Sophia Anne Zenzinger,
born in April.
{The College-
to have passed in a flash. Sophia is a fearless, joyful, lively
child, and she infinitely enriches our lives. She doesn’t have
any tattoos yet, but I was able to locate some black clothing in
her size. Our families and friends helped us adjust to parent
hood, but we are especially grateful to my classmate Ken Hom
(A80). Ken has logged thousands of hours in Babylon with us.
If Sophia develops a taste for good music and a knack for pool,
she will owe it all to him. I continue to practice the Japanese
martial art of aikido, in which I currently hold the rank of 4thdegree black belt. Since 1999,1 have been the chief instructor
at Aikido of Northern Virginia. I have about 75 students, any
30 of whom may show up for a given class. You may visit the
dojo’s website at http://www.aikido-nova.org. I’m still a
bureaucrat in the Department of Housing and Urban Develop
ment. For the past two years. I’ve been working as a housing
program policy specialist in the Office of Lender Activities and
Program Compliance. We spank mortgage lenders when
they’ve been bad. People may reach me at
Jim_Sorrentino@hud.gov.”
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�38
{Alumni Profile}
Looking for the “Monster”
Owen Kelley, Agg, Finds a Clue to Why Hurricanes Intensify
BY
Rosemary Harty
Before investigating hurri
omputer models can often
canes, Kelley had entered a
make accurate predictions
doctoral program in compu
of where a hurricane will
tational science immediately
wander. But no one has yet
found an accurate method to after graduating from
predict how intense a hurri
St. John’s. He ended up
cashing
out his credits for a
cane’s damaging winds win hecome.
Grapmaster(A93)
’s degree in physics
pling with this question, Owen Kelley
because he worried that he
asks, “Why does one hurricane become a
“wasn’t smart enough to be a
monster and another one doesn’t?”
As a scientist with George Mason Univer
Ph.D. scientist.” After honing
sity, Kelley is part of a team that works at
his skills at NASA for six years
NASA’s Goddard Space Fhght Center to
and feeling a growing desire to
study satellite data gathered by the Tropical
“ask the big questions,” he
Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). The
decided last year to continue
TRMM satelhte is a joint effort between
where he left off with his
NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration
doctoral studies.
Agency, and its data are being analyzed by
When Kelley began his
scientists around the world. For most of the
hurricane research last year,
past six years, Kelley created graphics and
he did not immediately think
software for other researchers. Through this
to look for hot towers. “Erich Stocker, my
work, Kelley met Joanne Simpson and
project manager at NASA, came in my
learned of her pioneering hurricane
office one day and saw me poring over my
research. Back in the 1950s, Simpson
hurricanes pictures, getting nowhere. He
proposed that short-hved “hot towers”
told me to pick one thing to study, and that
sustain a tropical cyclone, allowing it to
made all the difference. I had in the back of
travel a thousand miles in a week. But with
my mind how Joanne Simpson would talk
out computers or satellites, Simpson’s hot
passionately about hot towers, so I looked
tower hypothesis was difficult to prove.
up one of her articles and then taught my
Hot towers are rain clouds that reach at
computer how to find towers. It turns out
least to the top of the troposphere, which is
that the only instrument in space that can
nine miles above the earth and four miles
clearly see hot towers is the radar that’s
higher than the rest of a hurricane. The tow
onboard the TRMM satellite. This radar
ers are called “hot” because heat released by gives us ‘x-ray’ vision. It doesn’t look at just
water condensing allows these towers to rise
the upper surface of a hurricane-it sees into
higher.
the heart of the storm.”
Once Kelley began pondering the myster
ies of hot towers, his training at St. John’sparticularly his fondness for a question that
begins with “what is?”-began to pay off.
“Freshman year, I was horrified when we
started Euchd and my class argued for an
hour about the definition of a point. By the
time I graduated, I appreciated the power of
simple questions. Instead of becoming lost
in the data, I repeatedly asked the simple
question, ‘What is a hot tower?’ Every paper
I found seemed to use a slightly different
definition of hot tower. Eventually, I settled
on a precise definition and my persistence
C
Kelley’s computer models show hot towers
RISING FROM HURRICANES.
{The Colleges;, John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
As A SCIENTIST,
Owen Kelley appreciates
THE POWER OF SIMPLE QUESTIONS.
led me to patterns that other scientists failed
to notice in this same dataset.
“It took my breath away when I first
examined my statistical summary and I saw
that hot towers appear often in the intensify
ing hurricanes, but rarely in the ones that
are not intensifying,” says Kelley. A good
example of an intensifying hurricane with a
hot tower is Hurricane Bonnie in August
1998, as the storm intensified a few days
before striking North Carohna.
Kelley cautions, “We still can’t predict
which hurricanes will become monsters,
but perhaps we are now one step closer to
an answer.” Kelley’s results suggest that
seeing a hot tower near the hurricane’s eye
is a clue that the hurricane is twice as likely
to intensify than it would be otherwise.
In January, Kelley flew to Seattle to
present his findings at the annual meeting
of the American Meteorological Society.
He was not prepared for the media atten
tion that resulted when NASA issued a press
release about his findings on the day that he
presented them. While answering journal
ists’ questions, he had to learn how to
describe his research in a few words. In the
end, more than 80 Web sites, newspapers,
continued on nextpage
�{Alumni Notes}
Shannon May Lavery (A) and her
husband, JOHN (A87), celebrated
the eight-month birthday of daugh
ter Aurora (A2025) in Healdsburg,
Calif., where they recently relocat
ed with their first-born dog, (Vizla)
Lucius. All are well and peaceful.
“Fellow Oenophiles and Tahoebound schussers and ski rats pass
ing through should get in touch.
We are local and down to the
ground. Hookenzababy!”
Kim Paffenroth (A) has published
another book. In Praise of Wisdom:
Literary and Theological Reflec
tions on Faith and Reason (New
York and London: Continuum
International Publishing, 2004). In
it he traces the Biblical image of
wisdom as it unfolds in Dostoevsky,
Shakespeare, Augustine, Goethe,
Pascal, and Melville.
1990
Rebecca Ashe (SF) writes:
“I’m turning 40 this year and going
back to the UK for my high school
class reunion in June. Still happily
married to Steve Simmer with three
gorgeous and interesting daughters
(10, 8, and 4-all avid readers).
My beloved Faraday died at age 13.
Lee Whiting (SF89) and I got him
in Santa Fe. I still run daily and am
training for a half-marathon in May.
Also starting a private practice in
West Springfield. Would love to
hear from classmates again:
Rebecca.ashe@the-spa.com.”
“Greetings to all. I hope you are
well. Zip bang,” writes William
Culley (SF).
James Clinton Pittman (SF) writes
1989
After a year in Thailand, Elizabeth
Powers (A) and her husband
returned to Brooklyn in late 2002.
They gave birth to a daughter,
Madehne Josephine Wagner, in
October of 2003.
that younger son Sam just turned
two. “Hope everyone is well. I
need to write a book-anyone know
how to get political commentary
published when you hate Democ
rats and Republicans alike?”
1991
Brad Stuart (A) and Sara Larson
(Ago) are delighted to announce the
birth of their second daughter,
Phoebe. Brad is a software engineer
for General Dynamics in
Westminster, Md.
RonalieMoss (SFGI, EC95) is still
a teacher at Los Alamos High
School, but she looks forward to
retiring soon. “I have had a reward
ing career, but now I am looking
forward to reading great books
again instead of student papers.”
News from Megan Smith (A):
My husband, David Dougherty
(AGI98), and I welcomed our baby
television stations, and radio stations picked
up the story. His hurricane results appeared
in the media from Texas to Canada, Switzer
land, Colombia, Australia, and Japan.
A European Web site has even posted an
Italian translation of the story.
Perhaps the most gratifying attention
came from Simpson, who sent Kelley an
girl. Harper Claret, into our world
on September 2, 2003. She is a
bright and smiling baby with a full
head of spiky hair, just like her
mother’s. We are still living in
Annapolis, and I am working part
time as an optician and trying to
start a career in freelance ad design
for small businesses. David is a Java
programmer with Anne Arundel
County government. We’d love to
hear from any of our old friends.
My e-mail is peanutmom®
comcast.net and David’s is
dsmithdi@comcast.net.”
1992
From London, Victoria Burgess
(SF) writes: “I wish to thank every
one for their kind wishes following
the death of my father. They mean a
great deal to me. I would love to see
any Johnnies passing through the
London area.”
“After almost eightyears at the
Consortium for Oceanographic
Research and Education (CORE),
I will start a new job in April with
the Office of Education and
Sustainable Development at NOAA’s
headquarters in DC,” writes Sarah
ScHOEDiNGER (A). “While this job
won’t shorten my commute from
Annapolis, I am looking forward to
the new professional opportunities
it presents.”
Michael Zinanti (SF) tells us:
“I am an antenna design engineer
for Centurion Wireless Technologies
and have contributed to three anten
na patents with one more pending.
Susan (formerly Switich, SF93) and
I are raising and home-schooling one
e-mail that pointed out weaknesses in his
research, but closed with the statement:
“An old person feels that his/her life has not
been in vain when we see young people
grabbing the ball and running with it.”
This year, Kelley plans to revise the
material he presented at the conference
and submit it to a scholarly journal. Once
(The College.
39
daughter, Anna. We would love to
hear from any Johnnies passing
through the Denver area.”
1993
“Hello, all!”AMYFlack (A) writes.
“Things in South Dakota are going
well. Ministry is an adventure,
harrowing, wonderful, blissful,
wacky, and so many other adjectives
both good and bad.” E-mail:
thiers55@yahoo.com .
1994
Natalie Arnold and William Blais
(both SF) were married in July 2001
and celebrated with a 30-day cross
country train trip. Currently, they
“five in Pittsburgh and are the proud
owners of a happy house in need of a
little TLC. We are happy to provide
bed and breakfast, good conversa
tion, and a warm welcome to any
Johnnie traveling through Pitts
burgh. We are best reached through
e-mail at bill.blais@pobox.eom.”
Larissa Engelman (A) is currently
living in New York after moving
from Washington, D.C., in 2002.
“Working as marketing manager of
the New York office of Covington &
Burhng. As a side project, am look
ing to raise money for an independ
ent film project and would love to be
connected to others who have expe
rience or contacts in that world. My
hellos to the class. Hope to see you
at our lo-year reunion.”
he finishes his doctoral studies, Kelley is
not sure what the future holds. “The
ultimate goal is supposed to be teaching at
a research university and doing ground
breaking research between classes. I just
want to look at data and see things other
people haven’t seen before. I’m not sure
how to make that happen.” -*■
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Alumni Notes}
40
1995
Joel Ard (A) and his wife Hannah
(A92), announce the birth of their
son, David Frederick Ard, on
September 4, 2003. David made his
first appearance at St. John’s at
Homecoming a week after his birth.
“Remember kids,” writes Chris
Davis (SF), “funk is its own
reward.”
Benjamin “Alex” Ruschell (SF)
has a new baby. George Alexis
Ruschell (8 lbs., 20 in.) was born in
Schweinfurt, Germany, in
December 2003.
Jessica VanDriesen (A) is about to
complete a master’s in education as
part of the New York City Teaching
Fellows. “I have been teaching
math at Wadleigh Secondary School
since 2002. It is a far cry from
explorations of the conic sections or
Minkowskian space-time, but there
are moments. I plan to travel abroad
next year, teaching in an interna
tional school or possibly switching
to ESL. Anyone with suggestions,
please contact me via e-mail:
jvandriesen@hotmail.com.”
Tracy Whitcomb (A) is still in
Vermont and now back in school for
a second bachelor’s degree: in nurs
ing. “I hope everyone else is well! ”
An invitation to adventure from
KiraK. Zielinski (SF). “Anyone
in or passing through Las Vegas,
Nev., I’m now flying the Dam
Helicopter Tours out of a Bell 206
at the Hoover Dam-the tours are
quick, but a ton of fun, so drop by
and fly with me! I just bought a
house and I’ll be here for a year.
Because it’s Vegas, I think I need
to consider modifying my uniform
to sparkly midriff-baring nomex
with rhinestones! My callsign is
Dam Helicopter...too cool...
I’m obviously having a blast with
my new life. Also need to design
more bookshelves to go in the
helicopter...”
business journalism, I moved on to
Moscow. As of March, I have been
here for two years and I’m now writ
ing for a Dutch AIDS charity. I got
aggie Roberts Arnold (A95) writes:
married last summer to Elena
“Late as usual, I am announcing the
Rudykh, a Siberian intellectual
arrival of our son Augustus Bullock
beauty queen. We see ourselves
Roberts (Gus), born on September 16,
moving back to the homeland
2002. Parenthood is a blast! Thanks to Gus
eventually, but in the meantime,
we are frequent visitors to the San Antonio
I hope to see the day when one of
Zoo. (I am expecting the bears to wave to us out of
therecognition
many Marx readings on the
any day now.) We are also frequent visitors to theProgram
McNay isArt
replaced by Bulgakov’s
Museum. As parents we love this enthusiastic rediscovery of
‘Heart of a Dog’ for a modest
the basics: the naming of and conversational focus on ani
injection of reality.”
Rediscovering the Basics
M
mals, shapes, colors, vehicles, body parts, foods, nature (you
name it). I think fondly and frequently of the time I spent on
each campus and wish my contemporaries great happiness
and fulfillment! (And the courage to send in a note!)”
1996
1997
Maya Brennan (SF), formerly
J. Maya Johnson, is in New Jersey:
“I’ve recently moved from Baltimore
to central New Jersey where my
husband. Grandpa of evihobots
.com, found a paying job after his
election-induced unemployment.
I’m working at Princeton University,
compiling and coding data for the
Cultural Policy and the Arts National
Data Archive (CPANDA). Anyone
interested in the cultural pohcy field
will want to check out our free online
data archive atwww.cpanda.org. I’d
love to hear from former classmates,
especially anyone passing through
the central New Jersey to New York
City area. My e-mail address is
mahimsab@yahoo.com. Snail-mail:
501 Raritan Ave., D6,
Highland Park, NJ 08904
Erin N.H. Furby (A) is working as a
massage therapist in Anchorage.
“My husband and I are enjoying our
attempts at balancing middle-class
American fife with the fife of the
mind, and we still love Alaska, even
if it snows five days before April.”
{The College.
Michael Chiantella (A) married
Karen Burgess in Buffalo, N.Y., on
August 2, 2003. “Taffeta Elliott
(SF) gave a reading at the wedding.
Currently almost completed an
LL.M, in Trust and Estate law at
the University of Miami.”
1998
In September 2003, Julie Bayon
(AGI) graduated from Claremont
Graduate University with a Ph.D. in
education. The title of her disserta
tion is “The Neo-Classical Ideal:
Liberal Arts Education for the
Twenty-First Century.” She is
currently assistant professor of
English and chair of General
Education at Washington Bible
College in Lanham, Md.
Jacqueline Camm (A) announces
Shannon Stirman (SF) writes:
“We’re moving from Philadelphia,
where I’ve been studying at Penn,
to San Francisco, where Kelly will
begin working for a new software
company. Henry turned 2 in August
and we’re trying to keep up with
him. I’m finishing up my disserta
tion in psychology and will plan to
start an internship in the fall.
As soon as we figure out exactly
where we’ll be hving, visitors wifi
be welcome!”
“I think the last time I appeared
here, just after graduation, I was
rather optimistic about saving the
world through economics,” writes
David Veazey (A). “Well, since then,
I got my M.A. at Fordham but
stopped just before I had to start on
my dissertation. Over the years I had
become disenchanted with the
inherent inabihty of economics to
solve any meaningful problems.
Then later, after becoming an expert
in maximizing my unemployment
checks and dabbhng in health and
St. John’s College . Spring 2004 }
her marriage to Robert Travis
(a 1998 graduate of Columbia
University) on February 8, 2003, in
the Cathedral Church of St. Luke,
Orlando, Fla. The Rt. Rev. John
Howe, bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese of Central Florida,
presided. Amy (Norman) Morgan
(A96) and her husband Bill provided
music for the ceremony. Writes
Jacquehne: “We moved to
Tennessee in August for Rob to
attend seminary. We also purchased
our first home with the help of
Milk Klim (A02) of Columbia
National Mortgage. If anyone
would like to reach us, or is passing
through Tennessee, please send us
an e-mail: jacquelinecamm@
hotmail.com.”
Method-acting studies for Stephen
Conn (SF) finally hit Hollywood
gold! Look for him this summer in
Troy, he plays the third spear from
the left in that big battle scene
towards the middle. “Brad was a
dream to work with,” Steve adds.
�{Alumni Notes}
Christopher Pagan Nelson (SF)
Grateful for Phlogiston
reports: “Right now. I’m living in
Texas and concentrating on my
turbo-gangster country band. The
drian Lucia (SFoo) writes: “After living in
Foggy Mountain Cop Killin’ Boys.
Philadelphia and Chicago for three years. I’m
College didn’t really prepare me for
pursuing a master’s degree in library and infor
the scads of fame and money I’m
mation science at the University of Illinois,
receiving, but it was cool anyway. I
Familiarity with the theory of phlogiston has
would love to hear what other John
never been so helpful. I plan to flee the Mid
nies are doing, so please e-mail me
west in basically any direction when I finish this program.
Any
at donkeytown@hotmail.com
.
A
Johnnie librarians out there?”
James Petcoff (SFGI) is teaching:
a college administrator for the
University of Chicago’s economics
department, serves as president of
the Chicago chapter of the Society
of Architectural Historians, and is a
member of Chicago’s Caxton Club
(for bibliofiles): “I collect 16thcentury Aristotle texts.”
“I recently left my job as a mental
health counselor in Hyannis, Mass.,
and now work for The May Center
for Child Development at The May
School in Chatham, Mass., teach
ing children with developmental
disabilities. I recently moved to
Wellfleet, Cape Cod, from
Yarmouthport. When I am not
involved in the above, I play with
my jazz, folk, blues rocka-billy band: Skeeter and the Buz
ztones. I would love to communi
cate with fellow Johnnies in the
area.”
1999
Benjamin Closs (A) is serving at
the Marine Corps Air Station in
Miramar, Calif. “I may go overseas
for a while this fall, but Pacific
Beach isn’t bad until then.”
from Philadelphia to Frederick,
Md., a year and a half ago to live
with Vince Baker (AgsJ-yes, that
Vince Baker. We’re now engaged,
we’ve just bought a house and are
planning an October wedding. I’m
working for a biotech company,
while Vince is an editor. We have a
bit of a menagerie with the cats
Apollo & Artemis, and our recently
acquired blue-fronted Amazon par
rot, Pancho, the Bird of Mass
Destruction. We’d love to hear
from anyone in the D.G. metro
area: cinderlou@peoplepc.com and
oldmarley@hotmail.com.”
announce the birth of their son.
Mason, on February 14, 2003.
“We’d love to hear from our former
classmates at ShannonandKerry@
earthlink.net.”
Mike and Abby Soejoto (both A)
are pleased to announce the birth
of their first child, Lucila Adele.
Lucy was born on September 30 in
Los Angeles, where Mike is begin
ning his second year as an attorney
in the tax department of O’Melveny
& Myers. Abby recently finished the
post-baccalaureate program in
classics at UCLA. They’d love to
hear from anyone, especially those
in or passing through Southern
California (asoejoto@cs.com or
323-572-0343).
Nevin Young (A) writes: “I am now
Mauricio Rojas in August. “Also I
am currently teaching in Prince
George’s County. I got my certifica
tion through their Resident
Teacher Program and would be
happy to talk to any seniors or
graduates who are looking into
doing the same.”
“Hey all,” writes Jessica Sprout
Morgenstern (A). “Still busy out
here, loving my job, loving the
weather-sunny Santa Barbara. Feel
free to e-mail anytime...anyone
looking for a fun way to get paid to
learn (and teach) dance (ballroom
and social) give me a call!”
{The College.
Christopher “Casey” Vaughan
(A) is living in St. Augustine, Fla.
“Anyone who wants to come surfing
feel free to contact me at cvaughan@flagler.edu.
2001
Katharine Christopher (SF) and
Billy Davis (SF) were married on
December 20, 2003, in a beautiful
traditional ceremony at the Church
of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe.
Katharine reports: “We were
attended by our five sisters as
bridesmaids, and Jackson FrishMAN (SFoi) and Chris Carlisle
(SFoi) as groomsmen. Nikki
Mazzia (SFoi) sang two lovely
solos, and Juliana Corona
Kirmeyer (SF02) read a Scripture
passage. A number of other John
nies also came to celebrate with us,
as well as family and friends from
all over. It was a wonderful day, as
well as the beginning, God willing,
of a long and joyful marriage.”
2000
Lori Beth Kurtyka (AGI) married
Cindy Lutz (A) writes: “I moved
married in Rocky Mount, N.C., and
now live in Indianola, Miss., which
has been my home since gradua
tion. I will be ordained in May and
we are expecting our first child in
November.”
Shannon Rohde and Kerry
O’Boyle (Both AGI) would like to
Robert Herbst (SF) is employed as
A report from Andrew B. Hill (A):
“I’m getting married sometime in
2004 to a tremendous woman who
did not, sadly, attend St. John’s.
I reside in Fort Worth, Texas.
I recently completed an unsuccess
ful bid for the mayorship of my
lovely city, for which I was reward
ed with a whopping 206 votes, as
well as about 60 hours of Digital
Beta footage, which I intend to
convert into something remotely
saleable. Thus, no matter how
vague my connection to the school
may be, I am following in a
tradition of Maverick Johnnie
filmmakers, or at least I think I
am.”
41
finishing my third year in the
evening division at the George
Washington University Law School,
and am working for a lawyer in the
District of Columbia. (I cannot
understand why anyone would not
want to be a lawyer.) I would be
happy to answer any questions from
Johnnies who want to know about
law school in general, or GW.”
“Greetings from the Mississippi
Delta!” writes Paul Spradley (A).
“This past January 1 got married to
Caroline Taylor of Rocky Mount,
N.C. In the wedding party were
Derek Alexander (A99), David
Bohannon (A99), Adam Dawson
(A03), Alan Hudson (A03), and
George O’Keefe (A03). We were
John ’5 College . Spring 2004 }
What’s Up?
The College wants to hear from
you. Call us, write us, e-mail
us. Let your classmates know
what you’re doing. The next
issue will be published in
September; deadline for the
alumni notes section is July 15.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine
St. John’s College, P.O. Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404;
rosemary.harty@sjca.edu
In Santa Fe:
The College Magazine
St. John’s College
Public Relations Office
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599;
alumni@sjcsf.edu
�4a
Katrina Costedio (SF) has finally
decided to use her powers for good
and is heading for law school,
although she isn’t sure which one.
“Also shaping the young minds of
California in various volunteer
positions and as a sub. And on the
weekends I work with an adult who
is learning to read. I’m struggling
with the demands of being a good
citizen. Most of the time I still feel
like I’m pretending, but what’s the
difference really?”
Terence Duvall (A) writes: “I just
returned from my first major trip
since graduating college so I
decided it was about time to send
an update. My lomo and I spent six
stupendous weeks in Slovenia
taking pictures of castles by lakes
for my upcoming art exhibit
‘Reflected Castles.’ In Ljubljana I
met a producer who has offered to
put out a split seven-inch of my
{Alumni Notes}
band. Big Brother, and the Sloven
ian underground rock quartet
Sister City. I think I finally under
stand why you can’t spell Slovenia
without the word ‘love.’ And so in
the immortal words of the poet
Jerry Garcia, ‘What a long strange
trip it’s been.’”
Talley Scroggs (A) moved to
Bennington, Vt., after a half year in
Agen, France, where she assisted
in running The French Kitchen at
Gamont, a 1720s inn. Her friend
Louis Kovacs (A), is in the post
baccalaureate program at
Bennington College. Talley works
at North Shire Booksellers and
plans to start an MBA program
next fall.
An intriguing “heads up” from
Peter Speer (A): “You’re the king
of hearts for four years and then
you come out into the real world
and you’re the two of spades. And
there’s no don rags in your new
office, and no one wants to read
your senior essay. But that girl by
the water cooler is awfully cute,
and she blushes when I quote
Dante, and though she’s never
heard of Virgil she swears it sounds
familiar. So all’s well and I’m
going to Vegas. Feel free to contact
me with lucky numbers.”
2002
Margaret Tobias (A) will be
attending graduate school this fall
at the University of Chicago,
enrolling in the Master of Arts in
Humanities program.
2003
“I am enjoying Eastern Classics
and highly recommend the pro
gram,” writes Allison Webster
(SF).4-
Alek Chance (A) and Iva Ziza
(Aoi) had a daughter, Emma
Katherine Chance. Emma was
born on August 10, 2003, in
St. Johnsburry, Vermont.
{Obituaries}
Diana “Danny” Bell
Herbert Brent Stallings
Diana “Danny” Bell, the wife of Santa Fe
tutor emeritus Charles Bell, died March 24
of pancreatic cancer. She was 80.
She was born and raised in Darlington,
Md., trained as a teacher, and after marry
ing Charles Bell in 1949, lived with her
family in Chicago and Annapolis. She
taught first grade in Annapolis until mov
ing to Santa Fe in 1967. Along with her
husband, she was named one of the city’s
“Living Treasures” in 1996 for contribu
tions to the Santa Fe community.
“Everything she did was in proportion
and infused with order, kindness, and
delight,” her family wrote in her newspa
per obituary. “Whether it was a picnic, or
the peaceful sharing of tea, Danny filled all
with joy and the sense of her unconditional
acceptance of our human foibles.”
The family has arranged for two ways for
friends to remember her: contributions
can be made for the publication of Charles
Bell’s poems through the non-profit
Lumen Books (40 Camino Cielo, Santa Fe,
New Mexico 87506) and also to one of
Danny’s charities. La Luz de Santa Fe Fam
ily Shelter, (2325 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe,
NM 87505).
Herbert Brent Stallings, class of 1941, died
January 8, 2004, in Cary, N.C. He was 84.
A native of Baltimore, Stallings played on
the college’s football team (nicknamed the
“gallopinggoose-eggs”) before intercolle
giate sports were dropped. His pastor, the
Rev. William Green, remembers Stallings
bringing his family back to the St. John’s
campus several years ago, videotaping his
old dormitory room, and fondly revisiting
his days at St. John’s. When the college
adopted the New Program in r937, Stallings
had the option of sticking with the old pro
gram or starting in the new and spending an
extra year at the college; he chose the New
Program, Green said.
“He has always said that St. John’s really
formed who he was,” said Rev. Green. “He
really loved talking about the college.”
Stallings went on to serve as a lieutenant
in the Navy during World War IL After the
war, he launched a 30-year career in adver
tising with the Baltimore News-American.
He met his wife, Ruth, on a Chesapeake
Bay Cruise. Married for nearly 60 years,
the couple had two children who live in
North Carolina.
{The College-
St. John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
“He was a wonderful man who loved
books,” Green said.
Medora Cockey
Medora Cockey (A03) died January 3, 2003,
after a brief illness. She was 23.
Miss Cockey was born in Baltimore and
moved to Salisbury with her family in 1983.
She attended St. John’s College for two
years, then transferred to Warren Wilson
College in Asheville, N.C., to finish her
studies. She was to have graduated with a
fine arts degree in May.
Miss Cockey was a talented artist. She
loved hard physical farm work, and her
favorite summer job in recent years was
working on organic farms in Virginia and
Georgia. Her sister, Mary, is a member of
the Annapolis class of 2004.
Also noted:
Clayton Davis, class of r938, died Feb. 9,
2004.
John Falencki, (A68), died Dec. 30, 2003.
Merrill Turner (SF79) died March 16,
2004.
Charles T. Westcott, class of 1936, died in
July 2002.
�{Student Voices}
43
On Grades: How Can Genuine
Learning be Measured at St. John’s?
BY loHN Peterson, A05
grades? Do any students complain about
y grades were never
their grades? One can respond to a tutor in
something I worried
a don rag because he is stating observations
too much about. In
and offering suggestions, but how does one
middle school I earned
respond to a B on a piece of paper?
As, but in high schoolThe college’s recent self-study, “Liberal
where I didn’t always
Education
in a Community of Learners,”
do homework or attend class-I
maintained
states
that the college wants students to
a consistent B+, or 90 percent
average.
“work for understanding and not for
These grades were meaningless, I thought,
grades,” but acknowledges that students
because the work that the A-kids were
need transcripts, and therefore grades, for
doing to get their grades was out of propor
life after St. John’s. Grades interfere with
tion to a grade’s value. I scoffed at the arti
the college’s goals of fostering genuine
ficial scale of greatness that accompanied
learning and cultivating freedom, they
the grades: “High Honor Roll,” “Honor
distract students, encourage competition,
Roll,” etc. I beheved that I was wiser than
and are “inadequate as means of evaluating
these students, because while they were
working hard to slave for top grades at their a student’s success in liberal learning,” the
report states. Nevertheless, it says, tutors
college choices, I was heading to a place
take the “fair determination of grades very
where grades didn’t matter and where what
seriously.”
would really be measured after four years
The “Grades and Grading Poficies” sec
would be the true worth of an individual.
tion of the student handbook says that the
When I came to St. John’s College, I
college “does require all tutors to award let
found classes to be radically different from
ter grades to their students at the end of
high school, the teachers much more alive,
each semester...and authorizes them to
the students more interested and interest
decide what elements they will take into
ing. There were no tests and no homeconsideration and in what proportion.”
work-at least not in the high school sense
As opposed to the pre-determined system
of busywork from a textbook. Why, then,
of my high school days, this process is mys
were there still grades?
terious and vague, perhaps even arbitrary.
St. John’s is an egalitarian institution
What are these “elements” that a tutor may
that loves truth and rewards hard work not
or may not take into consideration? Class
with good grades, but with understanding,
room participation, attendance, attitude,
good conversation, and good judgment.
papers, and demonstrations all seem like
Could it possibly be true that with all these
candidates. However, different tutors may
riches around them, students here would
be more interested in different things, and
be worried about their grades, look them
this is something that a proportional grad
up every semester, and work for them, even
ing pohcy, in which various assignments
to the detriment of learning itself?
are given certain weight in a total grade,
During my first semester, I don’t think
is designed to alleviate.
grades ever crossed my mind-I was having
It is unhkely that St. John’s will implement
too much fun. I was worried that I did not
any pohcy such as this in the near future.
talk as much as some of my classmates and
One reason is that the more specific we get
that maybe I did not study enough. In my
about grades, the more it will appear that we
don rag, my tutors were nice to me and
care about them, and as a result, we will care
said some helpful things. This was enough
about them more. If tutors needed to discuss
for me.
grades, they would have to think more about
This year, however, I began to think
grade-giving and less about teaching.
about life after St. John’s and checked my
Students would consequently worry more
grades. This raised a series of troubling
about grade-getting than about learning.
questions about grades and the learning
Competition would inevitably result.
environment at St. John’s: How many other
“It’s a weird situation,” acknowledges
students check their grades? Students dis
Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft. “On the one
cuss don rags all the time-what about
M
{The College.
St. John’s College Spring 2004 }
John Peterson
hand we give [grades], and we don’t want
them to be some kind of secret document
that a student can’t look at, but on the other
hand we don’t report them to the student,
and we try to play it down. I don’t think it’s
hypocritical...It’s trying to foster a commu
nity where people are really concerned
about the depth of each individual student’s
self-education-and it really works.”
With all the debate about how much to
talk about grades, by which standards they
are given, and how much they matter to
students as opposed to how much consider
ation tutors have in giving them, my
inclination is to revert to my old high
school attitude. I begin to suspect that the
behavior of the students around me is
geared toward getting better grades.
I wonder if this or that student has better
grades than I, and if so, why. I become
taken with the feeling that we are all here
to go somewhere else, to get our tickets to
graduate school. I begin to resent my fellow
students and to think only of myself. Worst
of all, I stop all learning and introspection,
adopt an air of superiority, and start to
think about my future.
Only at this point do I realize that the
school knows what it is doing: it has foreseen
these problems, and in its grading pohcy has
tried to circumvent them. It recognizes that
grades can be a potential threat to learning,
but that they are necessary. If a Johnnie is
still worried about the arbitrariness of
grades, he only needs to ask himself,
“Do my grades reflect anything real?” and
he will answer, “More than they did in high
school.” That should be enough, and he
should go back to his studies.
�44
{Alumni Association News}
From the Alumni
Association
President
Greetings!
Your Alumni
Association and
the staff of SJC
have heen hard at
work supporting
the network of
Johnnies. I wish I
could share in
one letter all the
projects and possibilities that are emerging
from our shared work, but we only have
room for three this time. Watch this space
for more in the coming issues.
Part 1 - Reconnect
What ever happened to that interesting
woman in my freshman seminar?
WTio are the Johnnies living in my state?
Is there someone from St. John’s practicing
law in my city?
How many people were in my class?
What is Glenda Holladay’s last name now?
Does my favorite waltz partner have an
e-mail address?
How can I be sure the college has my
correct address and phone number?
Soon you can answer these and many other
questions about alumni around the world.
The Alumni Association and the college
joined forces to put the St. John’s College
Alumni Register online. It will be a great
new tool for you to stay in touch with the
rest of the college community. To use the
Register1. Go towww.stjohnscollege.edu.
2. Select alumni.
3. Select Online Register.
4. Apply for access to the Register.
5. Within a week, you will receive an
e-mail with your username and password
that will give you access.
Then you’ll be searching to your heart’s
content. As you use the new Register, we
strongly urge you to:
• Send your feedback about the Register
and the rest of the Web site to Jo Ann
Mattson (A87) joanne.mattson@sjca.edu
or Roxanne Seagraves (SF83)
roxanne.seagraves@mail.sjcsf.edu.
• Update and/or complete your own
information. The Register is only as
good as the information it holds. Please
make it most useful by keeping your own
data up to date!
• Let the college know if you prefer not
to have your information appear in the
Register. You should have received a
postcard asking if you wanted to opt out.
There are also places online that you can
choose not to have your information
appear.
• Use the Register as a tool to stay in
touch with Johnnies from your era, your
campus, your profession, or your locale.
Part 2 - Come Home
Are you going to Homecoming this year?
Please consider making the trip to Santa Fe
in the summer or Annapolis in the fall. You
will have many reasons to be glad you did.
• Seeing old friends and making new
ones.
• Thanking that tutor who opened your
mind to the books (or the books to your
mind).
• Seeing a rejuvenated campus whether
you’re in the East or the West.
• Watching a Santa Fe sunset over the
mountain or an Annapolis sunset over
the creek.
• Sharing the unique conversational
experience of seminar.
• Dancing as if you were ao again.
• Munching on burritos or crab cakes.
• Welcoming new honorary alumni.
• Gongratulating fellow alumni with
Awards of Merit for their remarkable
lives and work.
• Learning about the current state of
student hfe and the Program.
• Exhibiting and/or observing work of
creative and industrious Johnnies who
have books to sign (Annapolis) or art to
show (Santa Fe).
You will be receiving information and
invitations from classmates, the Alumni
Association, and the college. We look
forward to seeing you!
Partg - Reach Out
The Next Steps Action Team of the Alumni
Association and the Career Services offices
on both campuses support new alumni as
{The College .
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
they venture out into the world. If you’re
interested in providing support or in get
ting a boost yourself, consider reaching
out. Among the many opportunities and
services:
Virgil Initiative: Juniors who volunteer
are matched with an alumnus mentor.
The two meet periodically and stay in
touch through senior year and beyond.
The purpose of the relationship is to share
experiences and insights about the transi
tions after St. John’s. Career counseling is
not part of the plan, but mentors may have
helpful suggestions and resources for the
job or educational market as well. (Thanks
to Lee Zlotoff (A74) and Tom Krause
(SFGIoo) for conceiving and launching
this program!)
Networking receptions: Several Alumni
Association chapters host receptions that
bring new alumni and older ones together
to share career and grad school informa
tion. As you might imagine, many other
topics come up for conversation and a
lively time is had by all.
Communities of Interest: Clusters of
alumni have shared interests such as
psychology, dance, quilting, art, academic
research in various fields, law, or educa
tion. Often these Johnnies don’t have ways
to be in touch with each other even when
they know they’re not alone. The Next
Steps Action Team is planning to launch
a network across time and space to get
like-minded alumni connected.
Internships: A generous grant from the
Hodson Trust inspired summer internships
for students on the Annapolis campus.
Recipients have pursued a variety of
activities from arts to sciences to services
to professions. The project has been very
successful, and plans are afoot to begin a
similar program in Santa Fe.
We all have transitions to make as we
leave the college. These programs and
others help make the transition a time for
extended learning about how the great
ideas are the foundation for happy and
productive lives. If you’re interested in
participating in any of these programs,
either as supporter or supported, please
be in touch with Jo Ann or Roxanne.
They’ll help you make the connections.
For the past, present, and future,
Glenda Holladay Eoyang, SF76
�{Alumni Association News}
Chapter Update
With i8 active chapters meeting on a regu
lar basis throughout the country, including
a new chapter in Pittsburgh, St. John’s
alumni have plenty of opportunities for
seminars, social events, and cultural out
ings with other Johnnies. Efforts are also
under way in six new areas to develop
chapters from reading groups or nurture
budding interest in the formation of new
chapters and alumni groups.
In her annual report on chapter activity
to the association board, Carol Freeman
(AGI94), reported on an encouraging year
marked by active chapters planning innova
tive events and emerging interest in areas
yet to establish chapters.
Here are some highlights:
• The Santa Fe chapter is now meeting
bimonthly, and has formed a steering
committee to select topics and plan
meetings.
• The Boston chapter is thrilled to have
read Marcel Proust’s In Search ofLost
Time. This inspiring endeavor (5,000
pages) was a project embraced enthusias
tically by chapter members.
• The Annapolis chapter has decided to
develop a reading list for several months
in a row to attract more of the 500
alumni in the area to seminars.
• Inquiries about starting a chapter or
reading group are being pursued in
Ithaca, N.Y., and the Greater Miami area.
In Miami, Johnnies traveled up to three
hours to attend recent alumni gettogethers in Miami and West Palm
Beach, hosted by Annapolis staff
members Barbara Goyette (A73),
vice president for advancement, and
Jo Ann Mattson (A87), director of
alumni activities.
• Russ Dibble (SF97) and Kira Heater
organized the first seminar, on February
II, for alumni in the Missoula, Montana,
area.
In addition to seminars, Johnnies are
demonstrating their interest in socializing
with other alumni by turning out in large
numbers for crab feasts (Baltimore),
picnics (New York), and an annual
alumni dinner (Greater Puget Sound),
Check the Web
FOR Election
News
The Alumni Association nominations for
alumni representatives to the St. John’s
Board of Visitors and Governors and for
directors-at-large for the Alumni Associa
tion Board for 2005 will be posted on the
college Web site atwww.stjohnscollege.edu.
Select “Alumni” from the left-hand menu
(under the SJC seal), then click on the
Alumni Association homepage. A special
nominations page will appear among the
left-hand menu options
that are now highlighted in
red. Names, photos (when
available) and biographical
information about the
nominees, as well as infor
mation on the election
process, will be available
online on or before
August I, 2004.
45
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Whether from Annapolis or Santa Fe, under
graduate or Graduate Institute, Old Program
or New, graduated or not, all alumni have
automatic membership in the St. John’s
College Alumni Association. The Alumni
Association is an independent organization,
with a Board of Directors elected by and from
the alumni body. The Board meets four times
a year, twice on each campus, to plan pro
grams and coordinate the affairs of the Associ
ation. This newsletter within The College mag
azine is sponsored by the Alumni Association
and communicates Alumni Association news
and events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary -Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-the-Word-OutAction Team Chair Linda Stabler-Talty, SFGI76
Web site - www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Mailing address - Alumni Association,
St. John’s College, P.O Box 2800, Annapolis,
MD 21404, or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599.
Brett Heavner (A89) and
Nancy Lindley (A58) at an
Annapolis networking
reception for students and
ALUMNI.
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
505-275-9012
BALTIMORE
Deborah Cohen
410-472-9158
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin Gammon
410-280-0958
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
AUSTIN
Jennifer Chenoweth
512-482-0747
Bev Angel
512-926-7808
CHICAGO
Amanda Richards
847-705-1143
DALLAS/FORT
WORTH
Suzanne Gill Doremus
817-927-2390
DENVER/BOULDER
Lee Goldstein
720-746-1496
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Carol Freeman
612-822-3216
NEW YORK
Daniel Van Doren
914-949-6811
{The College-
NORTHERN CALIF.
Suzanne Vito
510-527-4309
SANTA FE
Richard Cowles
505-986-1814
WASHINGTON DC
Jean Dickason
301-699-6207
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
215-465-0244
SEATTLE
Amina Brandt
206-465-7781
PITTSBURGH
Joanne Murray
724-325-4151
SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Elizabeth Eastman
562-426-1934
WESTERN NEW
ENGLAND
Julia Ward
413-648-0064
PORTLAND
Dale Mortimer
360-882-9058
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
619-423-4972
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
TRIANGLE CIRCLE
(NO
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
9-722-671-7608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�{AlumniAssociationNews}
46
“A LOAF OF BREAD,
A GLASS OF WINE, AND ... I AND
ThOU.”
Sn^ng, Swirling, and Seminar at
Stags Leap Wine Cellars
BY Mark Middlebrook, A83
Here with a LoafofBread beneath the
Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and
Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness And Wilderness is Paradise enow.
- FROM Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat^ c. iioo.
Nine centuries later, the sentiments
expressed in Khayyam’s verse echo each
summer in a vine-rich valley watched over
by a rocky palisade known as Stag’s Leap.
Alumni from around Northern Californiaand perhaps an eagerly welcomed visitor
from Santa Fe or Annapolis-rise early on a
sunny Sunday morning to prepare our pic
nic lunches and finish our seminar reading.
And then we’re off to the annual Stag’s
Leap Wine Cellars picnic and seminars,
where we’ll once again be the blessed
beneficiaries of St. John’s alumni Warren
(A52) and Barbara (A55) Winiarski’s
hospitality.
The drive from the San Francisco Bay
area takes about an hour, and many of us
carpool-if only for the pleasure of packing
in extra hours of conversation with fellow
alumni whom we may not have seen since
last year’s pilgrimage. As we head north,
fog often lingers on the Bay and even in the
lower reaches of Napa Valley, but its cool
ness provides a lovely contrast to the
intense valley heat that will come in the
afternoon.
We pass through the town of Napa and
head north on the Silverado Trail, a road
threading up the eastern side of Napa
Valley that’s traveled mostly by winery
hopping tourists and bicyclists. Vines
appear-lots of them-as we speed past the
now-familiar litany of wineries: Luna
(where former tutor Abe Schoener, A82, is
now winemaker), Altamura, White Rock,
Clos du Vai, Chimney Rock. After a few
miles, we see the distinctive notch in the
craggy ridge to the east. That’s the Stag’s
Leap. Just before the road begins to climb
out of the Stags Leap District and the
bicyclists start to down-shift, we pull into
the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars driveway.
To keep track of all the stags in these
parts, you need a scorecard-or maybe a
punctuation handbook. The “Stags Leap
District” (multiple stags) is the name of
the small wine-growing region that sits
just below the notch in the ridge called
Above: Alex Poulsen (SF74) and Daniel
Cohen(SF90)
Left: Former Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
events coordinator Gabriele Ondine and
PICNIC GUEST
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
“Stag’s Leap” (singular possessive stag).
“Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars” (ditto) is the
Winiarskis’ winery and home of our annual
picnic and seminars. “Stags’ Leap Winery”
(plural possessive stags) is an unrelated
winery in the district.
We bypass the tasting room parking lot
and instead take the road that skirts below
the white wine fermentation building and
around a wooded hill to the small lake
tucked behind. There we unload our picnic
baskets and coolers, carry them up to the
lake’s grassy banks, and spread a blanket
on a spot to our Uking-full sun, full shade,
or dappled with some of each. It’s a little
more civilized than Khayyam’s Wilderness,
but with boughs, wine, and books-not to
mention a refreshing lake to jump into-it
will be Paradise enow for us.
Despite the claims of some that our
palates are most discerning in the morn
ing, we defer to the scruples of those who
might find earnest wine tasting at 10 a.m.
a bit unusual, and instead we sally forth on
a vineyard walk and winery tour. We stroll
past FAY-a storied vineyard where Stags
Leap District pioneer Nathan Fay planted
the region’s first Cabernet Sauvignon
grapes in 1961-and then into S.L.V. (Stag’s
Leap Vineyard), whose grapes catapulted
Warren Winiarski to fame when his 1973
S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon won the 1976
Paris tasting. We taste some of the grapes
and wonder at the winemaker’s techne that
�{AlumniAssociationNews}
reveals supple, prize-winning
wines from these juicy but still
tart berries.
From the luxuriant but care
fully-coifed wilderness of
grapevine tendrils, we return to
paved road and make our way to
the civilization of a modern
winery: crusher-destemmer
machines, fermentation tanks,
oak barrels, and bottling lines.
Our tour culminates in the
spectacular caves, which are
home to hundreds of barrels of
aging wine, a bronze bear and
cub nestled among several of
those barrels, a Foucault pen
dulum, a dramatically lit,
chapel-like room designed by
Catalan architect Javier Barba.
An hour of walking, plus the
heady, deep aromas of ferment
ing wine, have eliminated any
remaining scruples, so we make
a beeline for the lake. At a table
nearby, our host begins pulling
corks and pouring tastes.
The diligent among us work
methodically through the full
lineup, sniffing, swirling, and
then either swallowing or spit
ting-depending on one’s
lunchtime drinking plans and
desired degree of lucidity
during the afternoon seminars.
We start with Sauvignon
Blanc, several Chardonnays, and a pair of
Merlots. The simpler wines bear the Hawk
Crest name-Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’
second label-while the grander ones
display the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
name and distinctive “standing stag and
tree” logo. We finish with an impressive
phalanx of Cabernet Sauvignons,
including the FAY Estate, S.L.V. Estate,
and occasionally, if we’ve been very, very
good, a precious taste of the CASK 33
(a blend of particularly excellent lots from
FAY and S.L.V.).
Tasting wine is all well and good, but
drinking wine is better, so we pour a glass
of our favorite and bear it gingerly back to
our chosen picnic spot. There we fling
open picnic baskets, unwrap deli sand
wiches or flip open cardboard carry-out
containers, and begin to enjoy the happy
union of good food, good wine, and good
company. Congenial swapping ensues-of
victuals, opinions about the wines, opin
ions about the seminar readings, stories of
Liz Travis
(SF83)
our lives during the preceding year (many
of them true), stories of our times at
St. John’s (some of them true).
All of this eating, bibbing, and creative
embroidery under the hot summer sun is
arduous work, and some of us reinvigorate
with a jump into the lake. At the stentorian
bellow of the ceremonial conk shell, we
commence the annual chapter meeting.
This short but raucous affair typically com
prises effusive thanks to the Winiarskis
and the hard-working winery staff,
announcements of upcoming events, a
desperate plea by the current chapter
president for a successor, and directions to
the various seminar rooms scattered about
the winery.
Despite the unquestioned zeal of
St. John’s alumni for seminars, the next
{The College.
5£. John’s College Spring 2004 }
47
half hour offers irrefutable proof
of the validity of Newton’s first
law. Every body assembled there,
in its tranquil, well-fed state of
rest, does indeed continue in
that state of rest unless com
pelled to change its state by
powerful forces impressed upon
it. Several of us cajole, plead,
and eventually threaten in order
to get these bodies rolling
towards their seminar rooms.
We typically run five simultane
ous seminars on readings
ranging from Plato to the Lotus
Sutra to Wallace Stevens to a
contemporary political essay,
plus one film.
An hour and a half later, the
seminars disband and we
regroup at the Arcade outside
the caves for a reception with
scrumptious desserts and
cheeses, perhaps a sip of dessert
wine, and coffee. “How was
your seminar?” mingles with
other typical post-seminar chat.
There is more catching up on
the previous year, expressions
of wonder that we’re able to
enjoy a day like this each year,
and the wistful sense that this
year’s day is almost done.
One more slice of cake or
piece of cheese, another round
of grateful thanks to our hosts,
perhaps a stop in the tasting room to buy
a few bottles, and then we’re heading
south on the Silverado Trail, back towards
the Bay Area. The day’s heat is starting to
wane, and sun slanting off the vines
makes the early evening sky glow. 1 roll
down the window, and the air rushing by
seems to sing.
This year’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
picnic and seminars have not yet
been scheduled at the time of this
writing. Please note that reserva
tions are required, and that we some
times must limit attendance in order
not to exceed the winery’s capacity.
See the St. John’s College Alumni
Association of Northern California’s
Web page for more information and
reservations instructions:
http://teamrioja.org/sjcaanc/
�48
{St. John’s Forever}
Initiating the
Young into the
Tribe
‘!i4s well you know there is only one com
mencementspeech. It has been delivered
many times and it has many superficial
variations, but it always says the same
thing. An old man ofthe tribe tells the
young men that they are beautiful and
strong, that the world isfull ofevils, and
that they must go out into the world tofight
its evils and keep the vision ofits highest
good. ”
—Scott Buchanan, Commencement 1952,
he commencement rite
calls for a memorable
speech filled with sage
advice on how to go on
with the business of life.
Scott Buchanan called
commencement “the great rite of initiation
of the young into the tribe.” Some speech
es are memorable; some are not. Some
focus on history, some on urgent current
events. But at St. John’s College the selec
tion of the commencement speaker always
falls to those to whom it is primarily
directed, and throughout the years tutors
have been heavy favorites in the selection
process.
Scofield said in his 1950 speech that a
Tutors Richard Scofield and the Rev.
possible interpretation of the custom of
J. Winfree Smith became commencement
choosing a speaker from within the
traditions themselves. Scofield delivered
the commencement speech four times;
college is that students “think of the
Smith was selected by the graduating class
occasion, in spite of its name, as not only
looking forward. Since the life that lies
five times. Tutor Nancy Buchenauer was
ahead of you. . .is more complicated, more
selected by the students in Santa Fe in
serious, and more precarious than the life
1997, and after transferring to the
you are leaving, you could hardly go
Annapolis faculty, was asked to deliver the
without a backward glance.” dtp
2000 address.
T
{The College.
St. John’s College . Spring 2004 }
Tutor Richard Scofield, shown here in
1950, DELIVERED THE COMMENCEMENT
SPEECH FOUR TIMES.
�{Alumni Events Calendar}
Santa Fe
Homecoming: July a-4,2004
classes
are: ’69, ’74, ’79, ’84, ’89, ’94, ’99.
Childcare is available.
Friday, July 2
Picnic on the Placita, 5 p.m.
Reunion class parties
Movie: The Tao ofSteve
Saturday, July 3
Homecoming Seminars, 10 a.m. to noon
Barbecue, 12-2 p.m.
Alumni Art Show opening, 5 p.m.
Banquet, 7 p.m.
Members of the Denver-Boulder chapter
Sunday, July 4
Annapolis
GATHERED FOR A SEMINAR LAST WINTER.
President’s Brunch, 10:30 a.m
Homecoming: October 1-3, 2004
L2I2EEZ1liunni
____
Week i; June 28-July a, 0004
Kierkegaard’s Meditation on Abraham and
Isaac
Led by David Starr
Hegel, Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling,
and excerpts from the book of Genesis.
Painting & Reflection
Led by Phil Le Cuyer &
Elizabeth Pollard Jenny (SF80)
On-campus and off-site painting experi
ences, gallery tours, seminars.
Week2: July 5-9, 2004
Plato’s Republic
Led by Eva Brann & David Carl
Revisit one of the seminal texts of Western
political theory.
Don Giovanni & the Operas of Mozart
Led by Peter Pesic & George Stamos
Once again, Don Giovanni is dragged alive
through the gates of Hell.
Call the Office of Alumni and Parent
Activities, 505-984-6103
Registration, 4 to 8
Career Panel, 6:30 p.m.
Homecoming Lecture, 8:15 p.m.
After lecture: Wine and Cheese with the
class of 2005, Rock Party in the Boathouse
Saturday, October a
Seminars, 10 a.m.
Homecoming Picnic, noon
Class Luncheons, 11:45 P ®Afternoon: Autograph Party, Soccer,
Gathering of All Alumni, Dance
performance in memory of Harry Golding
Hors d’oeuvres & wine, 6 p.m.
Homecoming Banquet, 7:30 p.m.
Waltz/Swing Party, to p.m.
Sunday, October 3
President’s Brunch, ii a.m.
* Tentative schedule.
All alumni are welcome. Reunion classes:
’39, ’44, ’49, ’54, ’59, ’64, ’69, ’74, ’79,
’84, ’89, ’94, ’99.
Contact Planit Meetings for special rates at
Annapolis hotels. Space is limited for dis
counted rates; mention St. John’s College
when you call for reservations.
Phone: 301-261-8284; fax: 919-642-0062.
E-mail: kelder@planitmeetings.com.
For more information, call the Alumni
office: 410-626-2531.
{The College -St.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
Back cover: Reality observers in Annapolis
�STJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
Published by the
Communications Office
P.O. Box aSoo
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
D A N IE L H O U C K
( ao 6)
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
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Santa Fe, NM
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48
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The College, Spring 2004
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Volume 30, Issue 2 of The College Magazine. Published in Spring 2004.
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Santa Fe, NM
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2004
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pdf
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Harty, Rosemary (editor)
Borden, Sus3an (managing editor)
Behrens, Jennifer (art director)
Hartnett, John (Santa Fe editor)
Wilson, Rebecca
Silver, Joan
Kraus, Pamela
Miller, Basia
Stickney, Carey
Russell, George
Dink, Michael
Engel, Elizabeth
Goyette, Barbara
Byrne, Brigid K.
Maguran, Andra
Peterson, John
Eoyang, Glenda H.
Middlebrook, Mark
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The College Vol. 30. Issue 2 Spring 2004
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https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/107a2859a60bb352dcd9e70f7626062b.pdf
3b0fbf46c49d5777e79fd74606df5b96
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Text
The
St. John’s
^EGE
•
SUMMER
Annapolis • Santa Fe
Dostoevsky
Experiences with Crime
and
Punishment
2OOa
�On Dostoevsky
yodor Mikhaylovich Dostoevsky ’s own life had all the elements
Fof a complex psychological novel. Born in 1821, Dostoevsky
spent his childhood in Moscow. His early years were defined
by the opposing personalities of his parents: the gentle mother
who bore seven children; the cruel, repressive father-a physi
Dostoevsky was educated at home and at a private school. After the death of his
cian who was likely murdered by his own serfs during a quarrel.
parents, undoubtedly following his rational side and the guidance of his elders, Dos
Both died by Dostoevsky’s i8th birthday.
toevsky studied military engineering at a St. Petersburg college. However, by the
time he wa.s in his mid-2os, he had resigned his commission to write novels, the first
two of which were Poor Folk (a success) and Fhe Double (panned by the critics).
In 1846, Dostoevsky joined a secret utopian society. The socialistic tenden
cies of the secret group were not favored by the government, and Dostoevsky
was arrested on April 23,1849 as he read a tract in public. Although Dostoevsky
was sentenced to death, the emperor ordered a reprieve of the sentence. Dosto
evsky wasn’t informed until moments before his scheduled death, after he and
two others had been tied to posts in the prison yard. He served four years of hard
labor at a prison in Omask, Siberia, before being exiled “into the ranks” as a
common soldier. In the solitude of prison, in the suffering of his body and soul,
Dostoevsky began the self-examination that led to his spiritual awakening. He
still professed unbelief, yet, as he wrote in a letter from prison, “Sometimes God
sends me moments in which I am utterly at peace.”
After the stint in prison and the army, Dostoevsky returned to St. Petersburg. He
wrote The ImuliedandIrijuredXri&et^ on his experiences, but the book was so
unpopular he felt compelled to defend his ideas in a public letter. When he was 36,
the struggling writer married Maria Isaev. He worked as the editor of a publication
called Time which was shut down because of its political reporting. Personal crises
culminated with the death of his wife and brother in 1865.
In his middle years, Dostoevsky suffered from frequent epileptic seizures and
spent most of his time in dire poverty which he made worse through obsessive gam
bling. He wrote Notesfrom Underground, Crime and Punisliineru, and The Idiot
within a five-year period during this turbulent time. With his second wife, the young
stenographer Anna Grigorievna, he began to lead a more stable existence, finally
settling in a small provincial town after several years of travel. Proceeds from The
Possessed enabled them to buy a house. There he worked on his final book. The
Brothers Karamozov, and enjoyed a measure of public admiration. Dostoevsky’s
later books were serialized, making him something of a cult figure with his deeply
spiritual voice and commentaries on the state of Russian society.
Dostoevsky’s novels are marked by the dichotomies he himself experienced: gen
tleness and cruelty, faith and unbelief, sin and redemption, suffering and love. He
knew criminals well and had ample opportunity to reflect on their sensibilities. He
had strong political opinions (socialist in his youth, much more conservative later in
life) and explored the social implications of evil and sin in his novels.
In this issue of The College, we look at some views on crime and punishment
formed, like Dostoevsky’s, on the anvil of experience.
SC
STJOHN’S
College
ANNAPOLIS . SANTA FE
The College (usps 018-750)
is published four times a year by
St. John’s College, Annapolis, md
and Santa Fe, nm.
Known office of publication:
Communications Office
St. John’s College
Box 3800
Annapolis, md 21404-2800
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, md
postmaster: Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Communications
Office, St. John’s College,
Box 2800, Annapolis, md
21404-2800.
Annapolis
410-295-5554
b-goyette@sjca.edu
Barbara Goyette, editor
Sus3an Borden, managing editor
Susanne Ducker,
art director
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Kathryn Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu
Laura J. Mulry, Santa Fe editor
Advisory Board
Alexis Brown
Grant Franks
David Levine
Margaret Odell
John Rankin
Ginger Roherty
Tahmina Shalizi
Mark St. John
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�{Contents}
PAGE
ZO
DEPARTMENTS
Grime and Punishment
a FROM THE BELL TOWERS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Five Johnnies-two lawyers, a judge, a
probation officer and a prison librariandiscuss the reality behind the drama of
criminal justice.
PAGE
l6
Commencement 2002
24 BIBLIOFILE
A review of Charles Nelson’s book on Barr
and Buchanan
A military historian and a novelist
known for literary experimentation
sent surprisingly close messages to
graduates in Annapolis and Santa Fe.
PAGE
The New Program seal
Ancient philosophy in Seattle
SJC as international model
News about tutors and students
Homecoming in Annapolis
Santa Fe’s fundraising triumph
Letters
26 THE PROGRAM
Alumni in the corporate world debate how
math is taught at SJC.
20
29 ALUMNI NOTES
Remembrances
Pranks Past
oe
ALUMNI PROFILES
32 Holly Miller (SFGIoi) writes for
Laura Bush.
A short history of senior prank.
PAGE
22
PAGE 16
34 Nathan Wilson (AGIoi) parodies
apocalyptic novels.
41 OBITUARIES
A Buddhist in
THE Bookstore
42 CAMPUS LIFE
Johnnies reclaim croquet superiority.
Santa Fe bookstore manager Andrea
d’Amato brings an awareness of Eastern
thought to her job and her life.
44 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS
•
•
Minneapolis/ St. Paul tackles tragedy
Election Notices
48 ST. JOHN’S FOREVER
PAGE ao
ON THE COVER
Dostoevsky
Illustration by DavidJohnson
�2.
{From the Bell Towers}
On Liberalism and Liberos
Stringfellow Barr, one of the New Program
founders andpresident of the collegefrom
193'2 to 1947, delivered a series of radio talks
on WFBR in Baltimore. Here are excerpts of
the talk he delivered on June 20, 1938, in
which he tells the story behind the ''books
and balance ” seal that had come to symbol
ize the program. Editor's note: Today we
use inclusive language to translate the
motto: "I makefree adultsfrom children by
means of books and a balance. ”
confronted with a worldwide decline of liberalism.
...Since the New Program is an effort to restore liberal arts edu
cation in American colleges, I should like to speak this evening
about liberalism and what it means to those of us who are still will
ing to fight for it.
Like most liberals today, I am disturbed by the rise in many
parts of the world of government by violence as a substitute for
government by reason and consent. But unlike most liberals I
know, I am much less disturbed by the overthrow of free govern
ment in states that were once democratic than I am by the con
fusing of the liberal mind in states like ours which are still tech
nically free. You may argue that confusion in the liberal mind
disturbs me because I know that such confusion is normally fol
lowed by the overthrow of free government. I agree that this is
what normally happens; but even if you could assure me that “it
can’t happen here,” I should still be disturbed by the present
state of liberalism. Because I agree with those who founded our
Republic that what they and we have called free institutions
cannot alone and of themselves make men truly free. Free insti
tutions are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. The
end is the freedom of individual men and women...
Is ANCIENT
PHILOSOPHY
STILL
RELEVANT?
The original art for the
books and balance seal, used until
1997,
WAS HAND DRAWN. ThE LaTIN PUN WAS WRITTEN BY A FRIEND OF BaRR’s.
The other day an interesting and curious gift arrived at St.
John’s College. It was a design in the form of a circular seal, and
it was the work of a Harvard man who admires the educational
program which this College has undertaken and who chose to
express his admiration by designing this symbolic seal. In the
center of the seal is a pair of scales, or balances. Around it in a
circle are placed seven open books, representing the seven liber
al arts. And around the open volumes is lettered the motto,
“Facio Liberos ex Liberis Libris Libraque.” I suppose the motto
may be fairly translated; “I make free men out of boys by means
of books and balances.” The punning on the stem of the Latin
word for free is a serviceable pun now that liberal education is
{The College.
Is ancient philosophy stiU rele
vant? Such was the theme that
faculty professors, students, and
guest lecturers were invited to
address at Seattle University’s
7th Annual Philosophy Confer
ence held on May 17. Among the
visiting lecturers was St. John’s
tutor Joe Sachs (A68).
I think most of The College
readers would agree, the
answer to the theme question is
a resounding Yes! The distin
guished panel at the conference
shared this opinion and sup
ported it with readings from
their essays. The readings cov
ered topics inspired by the
works of Hegel, Aristotle,
Plato, Husserl, Nietzsche, and
Diogenes.
In his essay “Wholes and
Parts in Human Nature,” Joe
Sachs tackled the tough ques
tions of Who are you? and What
are you? Drawing on the tradi
tion of thought established by
5t. John’s
College ■ Summer 2002
}
Plato, Aristotle, and Hume, Mr.
Sachs put forward the thesis
that our characters are indeed
composed of the parts known as
Reason and Passion, but added
that there is an equally impor
tant third part. Spirit, which
employs Reason and Passion
and creates a whole from the
triumvirate.
Aristotle gave us the analogy
of a syllable in the Nicomachean Ethics to illustrate the
notion of a whole composed of
inseparable parts. A syllable is
visually composed of separate
letters but is considered a
whole when spoken. Take the
first syllable of the word “mem
ory,” for example. If you sound
it out slowly you’ll hear that the
continuity of sound requires
that each utterance be shaped
by the following letter. Sound
ing out each letter individually
does not a syllable make. In this
way the syllable is a whole com
posed of parts that are harmo
niously united.
Mr. Sachs drew on this analo
gy to talk about the soul as
being composed of universal
Reason, generic Passions, and
distinctive Spirit. In a harmo
nious unity of parts, the Spirit
interacts with the Passions as
an impetus to action and uses
�{From the Bell Towers}
3
St. John’s Education
A Model for Myanmar
Seattle University professors Corinne Painter, Bort Hopkins,
AND Christian Lotz
discuss
Ancient Philosophy with Annapolis
TUTOR Joe Sachs (center).
Reason as a guide for action.
The Spirit, then, is the source
of practical judgment in our
daily affairs. Greatness of soul,
brought about by the Spirit’s
dialectic movement in which it
first attains, then disdains, the
rewards of virtue and honor,
becomes the distinctive differ
ence that leads to a correct
sense of one’s own self-worth,
right action, and a happy life.
Readings from other visiting
lecturers and Seattle University
professors and students were
similarly interesting and
informative. For instance. Vil
lanova University professor
Walter Brogan examined the
kinship between practical and
theoretical philosophy as illus
trated with Aristotle’s notion of
friendship. Seattle University
was well represented by several
professors from its Philosophy
department. Licia Carlson pre
sented a holistic picture of
ancient Greek music, and con
cluded with the discovery that
philosophy is a form of music
in itself. Christian Lotz, also a
professor at Seattle University,
simultaneously entertained
and informed with his power
point presentation on the
important example of Dio
genes, who practiced philoso
phy in a wholly public life
(eating, sleeping, and philoso
phizing in the marketplace)
instead of exclusive institutions
and academies.
With these and other fine
expositions, the 7th Annual
Philosophy Conference was
considered a success by its
organizers and attendees.
Several St. John’s alumni were
in attendance to hear Mr. Sachs
speak, including Bill Boon
(A80), Diana Klatt (A89), and
Nina Tosti (A89). The Philoso
phy Club at Seattle University
organized this annual confer
ence to give students and pro
fessors the opportunity to pres
ent their work to an audience
of colleagues, peers, and the
general public.
—wthMinh. Stickford (SFoi)
Educators from Myanmar (for
merly knovra as Burma) visited
the Annapolis campus last
spring, attending sophomore
seminars on Macbeth and
Descartes’s Discourse on
Method, freshman lab, junior
mathematics tutorials, a senior
language tutorial on Flannery
O’Connor, and a senior oral.
“I was asked to help them
understand how we teach and
learn together at St. John’s,”
says tutor John Verdi, who
organized their visit at the col
lege. “They are especially
interested in how tutors help
each other to become better
teachers of discussion classes,
and how students learn to sup
port their positions with rea
soned arguments.” The visit
was coordinated by Dorothy
Guyot, a former tutor who is
currently working with
Burmese educators through a
non-profit organization, the
Myanmar Foundation for Ana
lytic Education.
Myanmar became isolated
from the outside world in
196a, when its military gov
ernment shut off most
exchange in commerce, the
arts, and education. New
books are scarce and those
that arrive are photocopied;
Burmese visitors Khin Maung
Win and Khin Ma Ma
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
most academics have not been
able to receive journals for a
long time. The country has
begun to encourage tourism
and other types of interaction
with the rest of the world.
Dr. Khin Maung Win, who
earned his PhD at Yale and
went on to become professor
of philosophy at Yangon Uni
versity and then Minister of
Education and Ambassador to
France and India, came to
observe St. John’s along with
his daughter Dr. Khin Ma Ma,
who earned her medical
degree at Yangon University
and now practices medicine in
Mandalay.
He hopes that what he
learned in his U.S. visit can be
used to lay the groundwork
for new modes of faculty
development in higher educa
tion and a new program to
prepare high school graduates
to study in the U.S. “Seminars
are very important to train
future citizens,” says Dr. Khin
Maung Win. “A modern socie
ty needs people to have dis
cussions... In Myanmar, tradi
tionally teachers are very
highly respected. There is a
saying ‘when the teacher says
the sun rises in the west, it
must be true.’ Students don’t
ask questions.”
Introducing the St. John’s
pedagogy of student-led learn
ing in Myanmar will not be
easy, according to Matthew
Ting, a 200a Annapolis grad
uate of Burmese descent. As
an American, Ting says, “I
have a tendency to open my
mouth and not shut it. But
some of my cousins that were
raised in Burma are quiet.
And a lot of St. John’s educa
tion is just getting people to
talk.” 4—BY
Beth Schulman
�{From the Bell Towers}
4
Announcements
The students
Annapolis rising senior
Aaron McLean received
Honorable Mention for a
paper submitted to the Elie
Wiesel Ethics Essay contest, a
national competition spon
sored by the Elie Wiesel Foun
dation for Humanity. Mr.
McLean’s essay is entitled
“On the Combing of Hair in
Herodotus.” The essay is post
ed on the Foundation’s web
site at WWW. eliewieselfoundation. org.
The Elie Wiesel Prize in
Ethics Essay Contest is an
annual competition open to
undergraduate juniors and
seniors in the U.S. and Cana
da, designed to challenge col
lege students to analyze
urgent ethical issues con
fronting them. Students are
encouraged to write thought
provoking, personal essays.
All submissions are judged by
a committee of scholars, and a
jury that includes Nobel laure
ate Elie Wiesel decides the
winners.
Andrew Hui, of Garland,
Texas, who graduated from
Annapolis in May, received a
Jack Kent Cooke scholarship
for graduate study. The award
covers full tuition, expenses,
travel, and a stipend, and is
renewable for up to six years.
A first-generation immi
grant from Hong Kong, Mr.
Hui came with his family to
America the summer of the
Tienamen Square incident.
His parents operate a retail
aquarium in Garland, where
he has worked over school
vacations. Mr. Hui plans to
study sacred music and com
parative literature, probably
at Yale. He is interested in the
religious influences in Dante,
Milton, and Racine and will
examine how they manage to
encompass Greek mythology
in a Christian worldview.
Officer and Staff
Appointments
Under an administrative change
in the structure of the college,
Jeff Bishop (HA99), formerly
vice president for advancement
in Annapolis, has been appoint
ed vice president for college
wide advancement. He will
coordinate fundraising efforts
and external relations for St.
John’s and will travel between
the two campuses. On the west
ern campus, Michael Franco
Grecian
has been appointed vice presi
dent for advancement, Santa
Fe. Mr. Franco formerly held
advancement positions at
Rhode Island School of Design,
the University of Rochester, and
Boston College. Barbara
Goyette (Ay3) has been
appointed vice president for
advancement, Annapolis. For
the past eightyears, she has
served as director of public rela
tions and publications (aka
communications) in Annapolis.
Jo Ann Mattson (A87) has
been appointed director of
alumni activities in Annapolis.
women, an illustration by the new
Alumni Director,
Jo Ann Mattson, A87 decorated last year’s Homecoming brochure.
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
She replaces Roberta Gable
(A78), who is now director of
placement. Ms. Mattson is a
teacher, musician, and artist.
She drew the spoofs of Greek
statues that decorated last
year’s Homecoming and Cro
quet weekend brochures.
Marline Marquez Scally
has been named registrar in
Santa Fe. She formerly worked
at the Santa Fe Waldorf School,
where she played many roles:
Spanish language teacher,
events coordinator, develop
ment coordinator, faculty chair,
member of several boards,
administrative council mem
ber, admissions director, and
college member (comparable to
the SJC Instruction Commit
tee). Ms. Marquez Scally
received her BA from College
of Notre Dame (Calif.) and pur
sued an MAT at Trinity College
in Washington, D.C.
Rosemary Harty has been
appointed director of communi
cations in Annapohs. She held a
similar position at the Universi
ty of Baltimore, and has worked
on public relations and publica
tions at Catholic University
(Washington, D.C.) and the
University of Dayton. She was a
newspaper reporter for to years
prior to working in higher edu
cation. As one of her duties she
will become editor of The
College magazine, replacing
Barbara Goyette.
David Pierotti has been
appointed Entering Director of
Laboratories in Santa Fe. He
will work closely with current
director Hans von Briesen for
the coming year. Mr. Pierotti
has been working in the fields
of environmental science
research and education for the
past 35 years and has also been a
consultant with a number of
governmental and commercial
laboratories. Some of the agen
cies with which he has worked
include the EPA, NASA, the
Cahfornia Air Resources Board,
and the National Academy of
Sciences - National Research
Council.
�{From
Stafford loans______________
As reported in the last issue of
The College, now is a great time
to consolidate student loans.
For alumni with loans from sev
eral different colleges, or from
undergraduate and graduate
study, this option should be
considered, according to Bryan
Valentine, treasurer in Santa
Fe. When student loans are
consolidated, the rate is locked
in, rather than the rate being
re-set each July as it is in the
normal repayment cycle. Rates
for Stafford loans went to
4.625% on July I. Information
on student loan rates can be
found at www.staffordloan.com
(click on “consolidation”).
Changes on the board________
The St. John’s Board of Visi
tors and Governors has a new
chair, new officers, and several
new members. Ray Cave (A48)
is serving as chairman of the
Board. Cave was the editorial
director of Time, Inc., and has
been a long-time member of
the Board and supporter of the
college. He was co-chair of The
Campaign for Our Fourth Cen
tury. Greg Curtis has com
pleted his tenure as chair; he
remains an active member of
the Board. Stewart Green
field (A53) and Jonathan
Zavin (A68) are serving as vice
chairs. Jeremy Shamos,
(SFGI76) is serving as secre
tary. This marks the first time
in memory that all officers of
the Board of Visitors and Gov
ernors are alumni of the col
lege.
New members of the Board
are Jaune Evans (with the Lannan Foundation), Richard
Hoskins (an attorney with the
Chicago firm of Schiff Hardin
& Waite), Roger Kimball
(with The New Criterion),
Mark Middlebrook (A83),
and Theodore Rogers (with
American Industrial Partners).
the
Bell Towers}
Shared Identities in Physics,
Philosophy, andLiteratureyta&
published by MIT Press in Feb
ruary. An article, “Quantum
Identity,” appeared in the MayJune 2002 issue oiAmerican
Scientist. In the article, he
addresses some of the ques
tions that arise when thinking
about quantum mechanicsespecially the unusual conse
quences of “like particles being
completely indistinguishable
from one another.”
“Bacon’s Proof; The Career
and Controversies of Edward
Teller” is a review of Teller’s
memoirs written by Annapolis
tutor Adam Schulman and
published in the spring 2002
issue of “The National Inter
est.” A physicist who worked on
the Manhattan project. Teller
was one of the European theo
retical physicists who “laid the
foundations of quantum
mechanics.” Schulman con
nects the physics involved in
5
the making of the atomic bomb
with Bacon’s notion that scien
tists “would secure and aug
ment their prestige in socie
ty...by the mastery of nature
that their practicable science
would confer on other men.
Bacon predicted that the fruits
of the new science would
include not only inventions for
the relief of human misery but
also weapons of immense
destructive power.”
Annapohs tutor emeritus and
former dean CuRTis Wilson
was honored in April with a
festschrift organized by the Dibner Institute, an international
center for advanced research in
the history of science and tech
nology established in 1992 at
the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT). Held at
the Annapolis campus, the
festschrift featured talks,
demonstrations, and tributes to
Mr. Wilson, who was honored
for his role as an eminent histo
rian of science. George Smith,
a professor at Tufts, noted that
Mr. Wilson “has done far more
than anyone else to provide all
of us with a deep understand
ing of the three centuries of
orbital astronomy from Kepler
through Simon Newcomb.”
The weekend also featured a
lecture by Noel Swerdlow of the
University of Chicago on “Sci
entific Cosmologies” that
focused on our understanding
of Ptolemy. Other presenters
included Bill Donohue (A67),
of the Green Lion Press, who
spoke about the section in
Kepler’s manuscript where he
comes to the realization that
orbits are elliptical; James
Voelkel of the Dibner Institute;
Dana Densmore (A65), of the
Green Lion Press; and David
DeVorkin of the Smithsonian
Institution. A surprise finale to
the weekend was a musical
presentation by Santa Fe tutor
Peter Pesic.
The Tutors_________________
Santa Fe tutor Peter Pesic has
a new book out. Seeing Double:
Spring tradition
for
GIs: At
the
Graduate Institute dinner
in
Santa Fe,
WEEK ACTIVITIES, MaRY AnN ClEAN TOASTS HER COLLEAGUES AND TUTORS.
{The College. St. John’s College - Summer 2002 }
part of
Commencement
�6
A Congress
OF Johnnies
Homecoming in
Annapolis is setfor
October 4-6.
JoAnn Mattson {A87), the new
Director of Alumni Activities in
Annapolis, will kick off the fes
tivities this fall in a personal
way: she’s hosting a Friday
evening barhecue (with her hus
band Walter Mattson, A87) for
the fifteenth year reunion class,
the redoubtable Class of r987
Annapolis. But then she’ll hus
tle back to campus to preside
over a Homecoming filled with
events not only for reunion
classes but for all and sundry
who return to Annapolis when
they hear a party’s going on.
Eva Brann (HA89) will deliv
er the Class of ’94 Homecoming
Lecture at 8:15 Friday evening
(not that any alumni need to be
reminded of the time for lec
ture), in the newly refurbished
FSK Auditorium. After lecture
alumni will follow their lights,
either to the Question Period,
to a reception in the dining hall
with the Class of 2003, or to the
Boathouse, where a traditional
boathouse rock party will evoke
The Cave, but in a nice way.
Saturday morning brings a
cavalcade of seminars, on read
ings from Plato to Emerson,
from Dostoevsky to Wallace
Stegner. After the big Homecoming Picnic down by the
sycamore trees, all are invited to
the Annual Meeting of the
Alumni Association, where
tutors emeriti John Sarkissian
and Robert Williamson, and
longtime creator of lab equip
ment Al Toft, will be made Hon
orary Alumni. Annapolis Presi
dent Chris Nelson (SF70),
Annapolis Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft, and Alumni Associa
tion President Glenda H.
Eoyang (SF76) will give reports.
{From the Bell Towers}
and the Alumni Association
elections will be held.
After the Annual Meeting
there’s a wide variety of diver
sions around campus: a Mitchell
Gallery Tour (the exhibition
will be “The Sweet Uses of
Adversity: Images of the Bibli
cal Job”), Freshman Chorus
Revisited (led by Tom May), a
Pick-up Basketball Extravagan
za sponsored by the Classes of
1987 and 1988, the traditional
Soccer Classic (us against
them), and a happily crowded
Bookstore Autograph Party,
where ro faculty and alumni
authors will autograph their
wares, from Complexity and
Analysis (Stewart Umphrey) to
The Golden Age: A Romance of
the Far Future (John Wright,
A84), from Strategic Renais
sance: New Thinking and Inno
vative Tools to Create Great
Corporate Strategies Using
Insightsfrom History and Sci
ence (Evan Dudik, A72) to The
Shape ofan Ear (Elliott Zucker
man, HA95).
All reconvene in McDowell at
6:00 for the cocktail party,
which stretches throughout the
first two floors of the building,
with the core party in the Great
Hall, and reunion class gettogethers in classrooms.
Thence to Randall Hall for the
Homecoming Banquet, where
the reunion classes will offer
toasts, and two members of the
class of 1967, Candace Brightman and Howard Zeiderman,
will be given the Alumni Associ
ation Award of Merit.
Those with true virtue and
endurance will then repair to
McDowell, where two parties
will parse them according to
their taste: in the coffee shop,
yet another cave-like rock party,
this one with, more appropri
ately, no water view; in the
Great Hall, a waltz party spon
sored by the class of 197a, with
floral decorations (reminiscent
of Rose Cotillions), and Elhott
Zuckerman at the piano. (Yes,
there will also be swing music
for you swingers.)
Finally, the traditional Presi
dent’s Brunch will be held on
Sunday, with this innovation:
we’re moving the apostrophe
and this year calling it the Pres
idents’ Brunch, since Santa Fe
President John Balkcom
(SFGIoo) will be in town to join
Annapolis President Chris
Nelson (SF70) in hosting the
brunch at his home in Wardour.
Interspersed throughout the
SiDDiQ Khan,
weekend into all these general
events are special shindigs for
the reunion classes, all the
years ending in seven or two:
1937,1942,1947, etc. through
t997- Check the Homecoming
brochure (with McDowell on
the front cover) for details, reg
istration form, everything you
need to know about Homecom
ing and some fine photos
besides.
artist and pottery instructor on the
Santa Fe
CAMPUS, POSES WITH SOME OF HIS CREATIONS. ThE FACULTY AND StAFF
Art Show, held every spring,
features paintings, drawings,
PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXTILES AS WELL AS POTTERY.
{The C o l l e c, e ■ St. John ’5 College . Summer 2002 }
�{From
Future
Farmer of
Annapolis
As a sophomore, Justin Naylor
(A02) worked in the college
archives processing the papers
of New Program founder
Stringfellow Barr. Among the
hundreds of Barr’s documents
that Naylor indexed were those
that explored world govern
ment, higher education, for
eign policy, and rehgion. And
gardening.
Though it’s not on the pro
gram, Johnnies might be inter
ested to know that Barr is the
author of The Kitchen Garden
Book, written in 1956 when
Barr was teaching at the Uni
versity of Virginia. The book,
subtitled “Vegetables from
Seed to Table,” is part essay,
part instruction manual, and
part cookbook. It covers soil
preparation and garden plan
ning in addition to detailed
sections devoted to 3a different
vegetables, from the humble
turnip to the popular tomato.
“Barr was a lifelong dedicated
gardener,” says Naylor. “His
brother James was a farmer. I
sense Barr was interested in
farming in the Jeffersonian tra
dition-small scale agriculture,
the culture around agriculture,
the kind of citizen it pro
duced.”
Around the time that Naylor
was reading Barr’s book, Masao
Imamura’s (AGI99) wife, Jack
ie, recommended that Naylor
read Ehot Coleman’s The New
Organic Grower and several
other books that fed his interest
in agriculture and environmen
tal sustainability. Interest led to
endeavor. In r999, Naylor took
a year off from St. John’s to
serve a lo-month apprentice
ship on a small-scale, six-acre
organic farm that raised mixed
vegetables in Delaware.
When he returned to the col
lege, he started a gardening
the
Bell Towers}
club. Along with about ten
other Johnnies (including
Librarian Lisa Richmond), he
built seven 25-foot beds and
three ro-foot beds on back cam
pus between the tennis courts
and King George Street. Work
ing mainly on Saturday and
Sunday mornings, the club
members grow spinach, peas,
tomatoes, peppers, melons,
cucumbers, lettuce, marigolds,
cosmos, and sunflowers. At any
given time, between 5 and 10
students are actively involved
in the work-a respectable
showing on a campus of 450.
Naylor likens the appeal of
gardening to that of the gym or
the woodshop: When you spend
so much time thinking, you
need to find an outlet for doing.
“The gardening club meets a
lot of needs,” says Naylor.
“Club members are interested
in working with plants, work
ing outside, growing food, and
working with their hands.”
This spring the gardening
club teamed up with the envi
ronmental club to sponsor a
talk by Brian Halweil, a
research associate at the World
watch Institute (a policy
research organization that
focuses on emerging global
problems and the hnks between
the world economy and its envi
ronmental support systems).
“Halweil focussed his talk
around the two major claims of
biotech companies: that
biotech crops are necessary to
make agriculture sustainable
and that they are necessary for
feeding the world’s growing
population. Both of these
claims are highly emotionally
charged and are difficult to be
against,” explains Naylor.
“Brian’s approach was to look
at what has actually been pro
duced by these biotech compa
nies and to show that there is a
disconnect between their claims
and actual practices. For exam
ple, the few biotech crops
released so far have, if anything,
increased chemical usage and
are thus less sustainable.
{The College.
Sr.
Agricultural
7
sustainability interests
Justin Naylor,
shown
HERE WITH THE COLLEGE GARDEN HERBS.
“Halweil also made the case
for an ecologically-based agri
culture, and used as a case study
a particularly noxious weed in
Africa that has not been dealt
with adequately using conven
tional chemical means. He
pointed out, however, that this
weed is only a problem in
depleted, over-farmed soils. In
soils that have been properly
cared for, this super-weed is
simply not a problem.”
As Naylor learns about mod
ern approaches to agricultural
sustainability, he says that in
some ways, not much has
changed since the publication
of Barr’s book. “He was a
thoughtful advocate of organic
agriculture when it was consid
ered a world of hippies and
freaks,” Naylor says, reading a
relevant passage:
“There is a ferocious war of
words on between organic
farmers and those who depend
on chemicals. The case for
organic gardening has made
great progress; the proof is
that more and more of its
opponents have begun to argue
that both methods are needed.
The case would have pro
gressed even faster if cranks
had not overstated it.”
John ’5 College • Summer 2002 }
Naylor praises The Kitchen
Garden Book and recommends
it to anyone working the earth.
“Even if it weren’t by Barr,” he
says, “it would still be a worthy
book on my shelf.”
Newly graduated, Naylor
continues to pursue his inter
est in agriculture. With the
help of a USDA loan, he is rent
ing four acres on a property
adjacent to the farm he worked
on last summer. His first crops
should be out next spring.
BY SUS3AN
Borden
(A87)
The Garden
Bookshelf
Naylor recommends these books
to all Johnnies with an interest
in gardens:
The New Organic Grower
by Eliot Coleman
Four Season Harvest
by Eliot Coleman
7'he Kitchen Garden Book
by Stringfellow Barr
Heirloom Vegetable Gardening
by William Woys Weaver
Botanyfor Gardeners
by Brian Capon
�{From the Bell Towers}
8
Philanthropia Brings
Reality to Advancement
How many Johnnies does it take to raise
$12, ooo? Fifteen—if they Je juniors
volunteering their services to help out
Reality Weekend.
In the Philanthropia spirit of
alumni working on alumni
fundraising, the Annapolis
Reality archon, Justin Jones
(A03) put together a team of
pre-alumni (St. John’s juniors)
to conduct an advancement
office phonathon. In
exchange for their help,
advancement donated $500
to Reality.
The April 23 phonathon
proved a resounding success,
with 457 calls made in 3 hours
raising $12,691 dollars (so farmore checks continue to come
in). Maggie Griffin, Director of
the Annual Fund in Annapolis,
says that the most impressive
statistic for the phonathon was
the number of gifts made in the
weeks following the phonathon
when messages the students
left on answering machines
were returned by enthusiastic
alumni. Of 331 messages left.
56 have already sent checks.
“That number is absolutely
astounding! ” says Griffin.
“The students delivered the St.
John’s message so effectivelythe alumni really responded to
them.”
By the end of the night, stu
dents were asking about vol
unteering for the next
phonathon and seeking stu
dent aide positions in the
advancement office. “And
they were good,” says
Advancement Officer Mary
Simmons. “There were quite a
few we would have loved to
hire on the spot.”
Another positive effect of
the phonathon will be felt this
coming year as the junior class
begins to form the senior class
gift committee. Perhaps a
repeat of Santa Fe’s senior
class triumph (see page 9) is
in the making.
As PART OF PhILANTHOPIA’s EFFORT TO INSTILL AWARENESS OF ALUMNI
FUNDRAISING IN THE STUDENTS AT SaNTA Fe (wHO ARE, AFTER ALL,
THE ALUMNI OF THE FUTURE) , THE GROUP BROUGHT 6OO KrISPY KrEME
DOUGHNUTS TO CAMPUS THE MORNING BEFORE REALITY. STUDENTS
BLEARY-EYED AFTER A NIGHT OF FINISHING UP PAPERS AND FACULTY
WHO ARRIVED EARLY FOR THEIR CLASSES AGREED—DOUGHNUTS AND
COFFEE MAKE FOR A HAPPY BEGINNING TO ANY DAY, PARTICULARLY THE
FIRST DAY OF “REALITY.”
Letters
Winter Warfare_____________
On page 16 of the Winter/Spring
2002 issue of The College, there
is a winter scene of Annapohs. In
that photo of “Winter Warfare,”
I am off stage left with my friend
Matt. Matt had the good arm.
The targets are Liz Stuck and
Wendy LeWin, both freshmen in
1977-1978, which should date the
picture more accurately. Both
were from Minnesota, I think,
two of three Minnesota girls
(Marian Sharpe, from Pine Gity,
being #3) that started that year,
and therefore impervious to win
ter.
- David Nau, A8i
Liberty Bell________________
Students
delivering the message about the college’s needs were
HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR BY ALUMNI.
Kudos to St. John’s for refurbish
ing the Liberty Bell rephca (Win
{The College - St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
ter/ Spring issue). This symbol of
our democracy has an even
greater significance since 9/11.
As one of the school children who
contributed pennies for the yoke
of the beU 50 years ago, I have
always had a particular fondness
for the beU. I am pleased and
proud of the stewardship the col
lege has provided this great
emblem of our freedom.
-Ron McGuirk , A6o
More Calendar Ids
_______
In the Philanthropia Calendar
for 2002,1 can identify the gui
tar players pictured for Octo
ber. Linda Stromberg was at
SJC (Santa Fe) from 1973 to
1975. Later she attended Anti
och College and earned a
degree in biology, I think. With
her might be Jim Shea (based
on the hair), who began with
the same class.
-Sheri Anderson, SF78
�{From the Bell Towers}
The One
Hundred
Percent
Solution
February, Paula Maynes
{SF77), a member of Pbilanthropia (the alumni group that
encourages financial support
for the college), spoke to the
seniors about life after St.
John’s. The class then dis
cussed what changes they
would like to make at the college-from faculty compensa
tion to scholarship support-if
money were no object. By the
end of the event, they zeroed
in on the film collection as
their gift.
On the day of Commence
ment, the seniors were ready to
celebrate their success. Com
mittee members Emma Wells
and Sara Abercrombie stepped
forward to present Balkcom
with the certificate commemo
rating the gift, as well as their
class’s new record for partici
pation. “There’s one thing
they can be certain of,” says
Santa Fe Annual Fund Director
Ginger Roherty. “It’s a record
that can be equaled, but it will
never be broken.”
The Santa Fe class of
2002 has set a new
standardfor giving.
Who J next to meet
the challenge?
On the wall of President John
Balkcom’s Santa Fe office
hangs a certificate he
received at Commencement:
“The Senior Class Gift: on
behalf of eighty-seven gradu
ating seniors, each of whom
made a contribution,” it
reads. The certificate com
memorates not just the gift,
but the story behind the gift.
The class is the first to
achieve 100% participation
in a St. John’s fundraising
effort. Each of the graduates
contributed to the nearly
$3000 collected so far for the
gift-a classic film collection
for the Meem Library.
Work on the project began
early in the year when seven
seniors- Sara Abercrombie,
Erik Barber, Jessica Godden,
Maria Goena, Katherine
Greco, Matt Reiter, and Emma
Wells-stepped forward to form
the Senior Class Gift Commit
tee. The kickoff event was a
party at the Cowgirl Hall of
Fame, a local hang-out, where
committee members explained
the annual fund. In December,
before the winter ball, seniors
were invited to a reception at
the president’s house, where
the committee provided
eggnog and appetizers and
repeated the message of the
role of alumni in the financial
workings of the college.
At a Valentine’s Day party in
Exciting times
in the mailroom:
Renzo BrundelRe, Michael Sullivan, and Michael Tereby held
COVETED STUDENT AIDE POSITIONS IN THE MAILROOM LAST YEAR AS PART OF THEIR FINANCIAL AlD PACKAGE.
Financial Aid Factoids
• Financial aid at St. John’s is
admissions bhnd and need
based. Admissions blind
means that students are
admitted to the college
regardless of whether they
apply for financial aid or
not-their family’s financial
status is not a factor in their
admission. Need-based
means that the college con
siders only the family’s and
student’s income in granti
ng aid and does not offer
aid to various categories of
students (trombone-playing
triathletes, perhaps?) to fill
the class with “desirable”
students.
• St. John’s attempts to
offer an aid package that
meets the demonstrated
needs of students. But,
since the college budget is
finite, not every student
can receive 100% of the
funds they need. Applying
early in the cycle helps
assure that students
receive an optimal pack
age. Students are some
times placed on a waiting
list if the money available
for student aid has already
been allocated.
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
• Students receive a package
with some or all of the
following components:
St. John’s College grant.
Federal work-study posi
tion (student aide job), and
loan. Many students seek
scholarships and fellow
ships independently.
• In 2001-2003, the average
aid package was $20,762.
(Tuition for the year was
about $25,000.)
• 50 % of students on finan
cial aid last year had an
annual family income of
less than $60,000.
• About 50% of students on
both campuses received
financial aid from the
college last year.
�{Johnnies
on
Justice}
CRIME
and
PUNISHMENT
Five alumni who work in thefield tell the real story behind the drama ofcriminaljustice.
Wi Sus3AN Borden, A87
A woman lies in waitfor her husband who
has just returnedfrom a long trip; she
kills him as he relaxes in the tub. A thief
is sentenced to be chained to a mountain;
each day an eagle devours his newly
regenerated liver.
rom the bloodbath of Clytemnestra to
Prometheus bound, crime and punishment
have long proved inspirational for the
imagination of writers. This ancient well
spring continues to inspire the artists of
our modern world. Literature on crime and
punishment is a mainstay of bestseller lists.
Television-“Homicide,” “Law and Order,”
“The People’s Court”-feeds our hunger
for the subject. Movies-Ziopc, Twelve Angry Afczz-sometimes
offer a more thoughtful examination.
A criminal act is the essence of drama: man opposes man in con
flict’s barest form. The killer stalks his prey. The thief plots
against the land owner. Even after the crime is committed, oppo
sition is at the heart of the system; The defense lawyer fights the
prosecuting attorney. The witness defies the judge. The guard
beats the prisoner.
These are the antitheses through which we’ve learned to view
crime and punishment. But are they valid?
St. John’s alumni who work in the field of criminal justice sug
gest they are not. Far removed from the seminar table and discus
sions of justice, motive, and retribution, alumni who work with
criminals confront these issues directly. As the dramatic interplay
of crime and punishment come together in the province ofjustice,
it is justice’s role to resolve, rather than heighten that drama. Jus
tice is society’s mechanism for placing an irrational act into a
rational context. Once a crime is assigned its proper weight, the
scales of justice return to balance and society is able to function.
Through punishment, the criminal justice system imposes a
rationality on the irrational world of crime. This, for the most
part, is too thoughtful a process to allow for much drama.
The Criminal Mind
A desperate young man plans the perfect
crime—the murder of a despicable pawn
broker, an old woman no one loves and no
one will mourn. Is it notjust, he reasons,
for a man ofgenius to commit such a
crime, to transgress moral law—if it will
ultimately benefit humanity?
—publisher’s copy {Bantam Classics)
Punishment
for Dostoevsky’s Crime and
The idea of the criminal mind-from Smerdyakov to Hannibal
Lechter-both fascinates and repels. What must it be like, we thrill
to imagine, to loose ourselves from the bonds of morals, to think
the unthinkable, to plan the forbidden, to perform the act that
will forever set us apart from our fellow man?
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
�{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 200s )
�T2,
{Johnnies on Justice}
'Td hate to live in a country in which 50 % ofthe
people who are arrested are innocent. ”
-Elizabeth Unger Carlyle(A73)
Criminal
Elizabeth Unger Carlyle (A73), a criminal defense lawyer who
lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, has regular and close associa
tion with the criminal mind. She is neither repelled by her clients
nor fascinated by their misdeeds. “I think there’s a group of peo
ple, a sad group, who really perceive themselves as powerless and
at the mercy of circumstances,” she explains. “They get into bad
situations by not thinking more than one step ahead and they end
In “You Can’t Get Away with Murder,” Bogie’s
defense lawyer
“I spend a lot of time reminding people that the people who
get into trouble are just like the people who don’t,” says Car
lyle. “In many ways it’s ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’ If
you took my current clientele and dressed them in suits instead
of prison clothes and took them to some casual restaurant
and interspersed them among the patrons, you couldn’t pick
them out. When people say ‘how can you deal with people who
character seems irredeemable: he’s a thief, douele-crosser, murderer, and blackmailer.
up in the middle of the burglary or the middle of the murder and
can’t tell you how they got there. A lot of people come to me say
ing, ‘I don’t know how this happened. Trouble always finds me.’
They don’t know how not to be found by trouble.”
David Johnson (A68), a probation officer for 30 years who
now teaches in the criminal justice department at the Universi
ty of Baltimore, says that addiction is often a factor: “Some
criminals are what we call sociopaths, but by and large I’ve
worked with people who have exercised bad judgment. A lot
of people who commit crimes have problems with substance
abuse or gambling. That causes them to have problems with the
law because first, their judgment is really poor and second,
they have a need for money. They resort to crime-to stealing or
dealing drugs.”
are guilty?’ I say, ‘don’t you ever make a mistake?’ I’ve got a
client now who managed to get himself ten years for selling
six grams of marijuana. That’s not a bigger mistake than most
people make.”
Order in the Court
Several young girls, caught in a minor
transgression, are unjustly accused of a
capital crime. In a trial poisoned by petty
suspicions, financial disputes, supersti
tion, and lovers' revenge, accusations fly
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
�{Johnnies on Justice}
13
and soon eighteen
citizens are brought—
unjustly—before the
court. Eleven of them
are put to death.
When exculpatory
evidence is presented
to the judges they
reject it, fearing it
willplace their earli
er verdicts in doubt.
In the end, seven
more innocentpeople
go to the gallows.
—PLOT SUMMARY, ARTHUR MilLEr’S
THE
Crucible
The scenes are replayed
every week on TV: Corrupt
police arrest the wrong man.
The prosecutor pulls out all the
stops in the relentless pursuit
of a guilty verdict. The jury fol
lows the lead of a misguided
foreman as the judge wearily
shakes her head.
However common these
scenes of injustice are in fiction
and drama, front-line profes
sionals say they are rare in real
life. From arrest through sen
tencing, those involved in the
U.S criminal justice system say
that, despite its flaws, it’s a sys
tem that works.
At first it seems strange when
Elizabeth Carlyle praises the
system hy saying that most of
the clients she defends are
guilty. But then she explains
why this is a good thing: “I’d
hate to live in a country in
which 50% of the people who
are arrested are innocent.” Still,
despite the guilt of most of her
clients, the system is set up to
work in their favor.
Suave detective Nick Charles, played by William Powell,
FOR BAD GUYS IN “AfTER THE ThIN MaN.”
{The College • St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
looks
“Somebody said it’s better
for a hundred guilty people to
go free than for one innocent
person to be convicted,” says
Carlyle. “That’s the way the
system ought to be. But I don’t
think that guilty people often
sneak through. More than 90%
plead guilty. For those who go
to trial, there is a question of
their guilt. It’s not usually a
question that they’ll get off, but
that they’ll get off with less
than five years.”
Maureen Barden (A70), an
assistant U.S. attorney in
Philadelphia who works on gun
possession cases, says she’s
encouraged by what she sees in
court: “The jury system works.
In my experience of trying
cases, only a very small per
centage of the time do I think
jurors reach the wrong result.
They’re careful, thorough, they
think hard. It’s heartening to
be a part of that,”
Once the verdict is deter
mined, the judge steps in for
sentencing. Johnson, the crimi
nal justice professor, outlines
the aims of that process:
“There are four classic goals of
the corrections system: inca
pacitation, retribution, deter
rence, and rehabilitation. If
possible, the sentence meets all
four goals in the appropriate
measures for the particular
crime and individual. Incapaci
tation gets considered first.
Then, retribution: how much
punishment
the
person
deserves in addition to that.
Next is deterrence, and finally
rehabilitation.”
County Court Judge Pattie
Swift (SF82), who works in
rural Costilla County, Col
orado, finds that the goals fall
in a different order in her court.
She often relies on the deter
rence effect of prison. “There
are people who need the shock
of jail for a short period of time.
�{Johnnies on Justice}
14
''Judgment has two cups, a cup ofJustice and a cup ofmercy.
-David Johnson, A68, probation
I send them in for a week. Our local county jail is benign, but
still, they’re locked up and it’s frightening. This is useful for
some people who have committed DWIs before and didn’t take
it seriously.”
Swift turns to long-term incapacitation only as a last resort.
Her position limits her to passing a two-year sentence. “For
people with whom we’ve tried everything, the last ditch thing is
Peter Falk
is hitman
Abe “Kid Twist” Reles
in the
i960
victim and their families, and gathering information about the
accused’s prior record and social history to make an evaluation
and recommendation.
When he worked in probation, Johnson appreciated this
opportunity to influence the judge’s decision. “I always
remembered that judgment has two cups: a cup of justice and a
cup of mercy. How much of each does the defendant get?”
gangland flick
long-term jail to get them out of society. If they are unable to
change, if they have four DWIs, it’s the only thing you can do to
protect the public.”
Johnson discusses the problem of disparity in sentencing:
“In sentencing there are no rules to speak of and the judge has
virtually complete discretion. Somebody who’s convicted of
bank robbery in Brooklyn might get probation; for the same
crime in Texas he might get ao years. It’s an oddity because
everything is rule-driven up to the point of conviction. Once we
go to sentencing in criminal matters, the judge is supposed to
exercise the wisdom of Solomon.”
In today’s world, fortunately, Solomon has a consultant.
The probation officer conducts a presentence investigation for
the judge, reviewing the crime, interviewing the defendant and
chief
“Murder, Inc.”
Behind Bars
A man is sentenced to two years on a
southern chain gangfor a minor offense.
His rebellious manner is met with psycho
logical torment andphysical brutality.
The guards seem to enjoy their project of
breaking his spirit. In the end, they take
his life.
—PLOT SUMMARY OF THE 1967 MOVIE, CoOL HaND LuKE
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
�{JohnniesonJustice}
15
This is one area where, unfortunately, the movies have it
contraction of prisoner rights. With state budgets in the condi
right. Prison is often a hrutal place and prisoner rights are fre
tion they’re in, programs for offenders will be on hold or
quently disregarded. Even where efforts are made to protect
decreased.”
the inmates hoth physically and legally, the difficulties of man
Carlyle, the criminal defense attorney, shares Booker’s pes
aging a captive population have yet to he satisfactorily
simism and is concerned about how current policy will play out
addressed.
when prisoners return to society: “In my 25 years of practice,
Margaret Booker (SFGI94) directed a state prison library for
there’s been pretty much a complete turn from ‘incarceratefour years. She says that the system she worked in was set up to
punish-rehabilitate’ to ‘let’s show them how mad we are
protect the prisoners and their rights, hut it often didn’t work
and treat them like we’re mad for 20 years and then have them
as planned.
live next door to us.’ ”
“During my training I was told not to
And Justice For All
pay attention to the justice or injustice of
the offender’s act or sentence. Missouri
Criminals go free, justice
Cast of Characters
tells the same thing to all new offenders as
they enter reception and diagnostics:
proves to be not-so blind,
Maureen Barden (A70)
don’t talk about your crime to your peers;
and lawyers andjudges
the staff doesn’t need to know either. But
Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S.
that rarely works. Very few can keep their
make deals... exceptfor one
Department of Justice in Philadel
lives private to a degree that would keep
phia. Before becoming a lawyer she
young idealistic lawyer who
them safe or lessen the risks they face in
I worked on the investigation of the
prison.”
bucks the system while rep
Attica prison uprising and the Nison
In her own sphere of influence, Booker
I impeachment.
resenting a ruthless judge
saw real-life practice reveal the faulty pre
sumptions of a legal theory intended to
Maruaket Booker (SGI94)
accused of a brutal rape.
safeguard the inmates’ rights. “While
most offenders use the library for educa
—CAPSULE REVIEW OF THE I979 MOVIE, AnD JUSTICE
Library services coordinator for the
FOR All, from MoviesUnlimited.com
tion, entertainment, and enlightenment,
Missouri Department of Corrections
every offender in Missouri has access to
in Jefferson City from 1998 to 2001.
Unlike the corrupt cop, the cynical
legal materials,” she says. “This is the
She is now manager of the Kansas
lawyers, and the jaded judges that
state’s way of providing ‘access to courts,’
City, Missouri, Public Library, West
are so popular in today’s crime stories,
the requirement that offenders be able to
port Branch.
Johnnies in justice veer to the idealistic.
represent themselves in their appeals. In
When Johnson speaks of his career as a
Elizabeth Unger Carlyle (A73)
other states, access to courts is interpreted
probation officer, he says that the friend
differently,” Booker explains. “Some have
ships he’s maintained with people he’s
Criminal defense lawyer. She handles
attorneys who travel the system or public
supervised over the years are priceless
everything from speeding tickets to
librarians who do research for the inmates.
benefits.
murder trials, doing most of her work
Arizona just sold off a huge amount of legal
Swift treasures the times when defen
< with appeals and post-conviction
material and now provides paralegals who
dants who have complained bitterly about
remedies. She is married to the Rev.
travel a circuit across the state to assist
a sentence of alcohol treatment come
James Carlyle (A72).
offenders.”
back for review and say “thank you, it
Booker has a dim view of Missouri’s
David Johnson (A68)
really opened my eyes to see what was
approach. “I don’t think any sort of justice
wrong.”
is given through the collection of materi
Worked in criminal justice for over 30
Barden, who’s worked as a federal pros
als to those who might be innocent or have
years. Retired as chief of federal pro
ecutor on large scale fraud cases, says her
been tried inappropriately or irresponsi
bation for the state of Maryland, he
work gives her the opportunity to serve
bly. The information and organization is
teaches criminal justice at the Univer
justice. “In many cases, you’re vindicat
too complex, as is the court system, for
sity of Baltimore. He is married to
ing the rights of individuals who’ve been
the offender population on the whole to
Sally Johnson (A65).
defrauded. It’s very good when you can
navigate.”
get justice for somebody who has been
Pattie Swiff (SF82)
Booker is pessimistic about the state’s
stolen from or in another way injured. It’s
inclination to improve the system, given
a chance to do the right thing,” she says.
County court judge in Costilla County,
today’s political and economic climate.
“That’s the luxury of being on this side of
Colorado, and municipal judge for the
“When I started, prisoners were called
the courtroom: the interest of the govern
town of San Luis.
prisoners or inmates. Now they’re called
ment is to do justice. That’s not always
offenders. In the ’80s and ’90s we saw a
simple, but it is the goal.”
{The College -St John’s College • Summer 2002 }
�{Commencement}
COMMENCEMENT
2002
(Santa Fe)
Barbara Goyette, A73 (Annapolis)
BY Marissa Morrison, SFGIoa
AND
he graduating seniors-ioa in Annapolis
and 88 in Santa Fe-chose as their com
mencement speakers a military historian
and a novelist who has produced a series
of literary experiments. Rather than pres
ent opposing viewpoints on life or on the
St. John’s experience, the two gave sur
prisingly close send-offs to the graduates.
Their messages contrasted the education
a St. John’s graduate receives with the vapidness of many aspects
of modern culture, and both saw St. John’s as supplying the back
ground necessary for a beginning to a life devoted to questioning
and thinking.
The Importance of “The Human Thing” - Annapolis
At the 210th commencement in Annapolis, 102 undergraduates
and 36 Graduate Institute students
received their degrees. The day was
sunny and bright, the grass was
green, the air was still and cool as
the parents, family members, and
friends gathered on the front lawn.
Faculty and students processed
from the Great Hall to the click and
whir of cameras and the ceremonial
strains of the Carrollton Brass.
President Christopher Nelson
and Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft
announced the various prizes and
awards, including that for best sen
ior essay, which went to Katherine
Gehlberg for her essay “A Nature
Within and Without; An Inquiry
into the Evolution of the Moral
Sense.”
Seniors had chosen Victor Davis
Hanson, who teaches classics at the
University of California at Fresno
and has published books and
columns on military history, as the
commencement speaker.
Mr. Hanson stressed universal
human truths that are covered in the Program as those that the
graduates will draw upon wherever their lives carry them in the
future. “Most of you will ...enter the professions,” he said.
“Many-I have no doubt of it-shall become rich and powerful. But
I am also equally confident that such success will accrue more
because you shall be deft and experienced about what Thucydides
called ‘the human thing,’ and resigned about the way humans
think and act, rather than because you were simply adept at a par
ticular skill.”
In a perhaps unintended allusion to the famous (among John
nies) admissions proclamation “The following teachers will
return to St. John’s next year; Plato, Sophocles, Kant, Tolstoy,
etc.,” Mr. Hanson said that St. John’s has given the graduates “a
reservoir of learning from great men and women. These are your
intellectual mentors, your friends for life. Each hour, each day
from now to the end they will be there with you-to remind you,
chastise you, and enlighten that what you experience is neither
novel nor unique.”
And considering the great books
authors as mentors, and their
words as universal human truths,
Mr. Hanson suggested, is helpful in
evaluating current situations that
citizens need to understand.
“When others suggest that educat
ed citizens should not profess patri
otism or think of their culture as
unique and worth defending, you
will remind them of Aeschylus at
Marathon and Socrates at Delium.
And when you despair that men
with money, degrees, status, and
fame can be petty rather than
noble, and are as likely as the illit
erate and impoverished to steal and
defame, Juvenal, Dante, and Swift
will laugh along with you.” A St.
John’s education, he suggested,
makes those who have undergone it
“empirical and inductive, open to
truth when it comes from the
uncouth and enemies-and resist
ant to lies when they come from the
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
�{Commencement }
''Open to truth...resistant to lies.
Victor Davis Hanson
Eva Brann
leads the procession to front campus in
Annapolis (left),
while in
Santa Fe, Genevieve Giddings
LIGHTS THE PlACITA WITH HER SMILE (ABOVE).
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
17
�i8
{Commencement}
sweet and friends. You will not just pon
der and equivocate, but decide, judge,
and act.”
Mr. Hanson used an extended Homer
ic image to discuss what the future might
hold for the graduates, and what dangers.
He characterized their journey as like
that of Odysseus and referred to “suitors
feasting away at our society’s once ample
social capital and spiritual reserves” as
those the graduates would have to con
front. He warned against the Charybdis
of the Right, which he said “assures that
the university and education itself are
simply to be utilitarian and commercial
certifications of dexterity with spread
sheets, glibness with the law, or mere
master of regulations, tables, charts, and
graphs.” And he identified the Scylla of
the Left as “the idea, now almost univer
sal, that the purpose of education is ther
apeutic, to change what words mean, to deny how people act, to
create absolute equality of results, rather than of opportunity in
the here and now-or else!”
Acknowledging the power of education, Mr. Hanson urged the
audience to use wisdom wisely. He likened knowledge’s strength
to that of Tolkein’s One Ring, whose great power was so alluring
that it ruined lives and threatened races. “Education used foully
for a good cause, is nevertheless foul, and thus the cause not so
good after all. Remember instead the first and oldest command
ments of the humble Greeks-know yourself/nothing too much/
grow old learning.” He suggested that some time spent in smaU
pursuits-away from the bigness of our present age’s government,
corporations, and overriding materialism-is valuable. “Seek out,
or perhaps at least protect and enhance-if only for a year or two of
your odyssey-those sand bars and reefs that are washed over but
not quite, not quite yet
submerged-the love of
Greek and Latin, the
knowledge of the mason
and woodworker, the fami
ly nursery and small farm,
the horseman and the
shoemaker, the town of
2,000, and the art and
music of rural Ameri
ca...Like your Great
Books, these unobtrusive
people, things, and memories-forgotten by WalMart and unknown at
Blockbuster-also possess
wisdom-learning that we
need in our present hour
of peril against enemies
cruel and medieval.”
Mr. Hanson closed with a promise. As a
farmer, student of Latin and Greek, resi
dent of a rural community, writer, and
“as one who at times has failed at all that
and so much more stiU”-he promised to
join the graduates to “keep alive the
ancient education that we still know to be
good and necessary-and can alone keep
the melodious, but deadly. Sirens at bay.”
Points of Departure, Not the Journey’s
End - Santa Fe______________________
By graduation day in Santa Fe on May i8,
the fear and sadness that characterized
the early part of the academic year after
September ii had given way to a feeling of
jubilation. The brilliant sun shining
above the Meem Library Placita and a
lively commencement speech by John
Barth added to the bright spirit of the day.
Barth is a Johns Hopkins University professor emeritus and a nov
elist who delights in literary experimentalism while engaging read
ers with the power of his storytelling abilities.
In a speech titled “The Tragic View of Liberal Education,” Mr.
Barth praised the St. John’s program for permitting discourse
within a shared frame of reference richer and more stable than pop
ular culture-which is perhaps all the students at some departmen
talized institutions have in common. He also presented the down
side to an education based on a hmited selection of Great Books.
While attending Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Mr. Barth
often heard debates over the liberal arts program at nearby St.
John’s College in Annapolis. According to one half-serious opin
ion, “the problem with the Annapolis curriculum was that it left
out not only all the bad books-which, like bad art, may be indis
pensable to defining and
appreciating the good
hut also aU the arguably
great books that happen
to disagree with the ones
in the canon.” He noted
that no four-year under
graduate survey could
include all the books one
ought to read.
To
illustrate how
impossible it is for a stu
dent to actually read
everything, Mr. Barth
referred to one of his fel
low undergraduates who
was said to have done just
that. “To this day,” Mr.
Barth joked, “he is scarce
ly able to complete a sen
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
�{Commencement}
tence, much less publish a coherent essay,
because every word he utters sets off so
many synaptic hot-links in his mind that
he has difficulty getting from subject to
verb to object, astray in the hypertextuality of his splendid erudition.”
The tragedy of a liberal education,
according to Mr. Barth, lies in the real
ization that one cannot read-or learneverything. “Since time, attention, ener
gy, and opportunity are all finite, we
must radically exclude and delimit if we
are to learn anything at all well; yet in so
doing we may very possibly leave out
things that, had we discovered them or
they us, might have been keys to the
treasure that we were scarcely aware we
were seeking,” he said.
Mr. Barth lamented that only the books
he has actually read can make an impres Barth the novelist
sion on him. As a fiction writer, he wishes
that he could read every other written work. Without reading every
description of the dawn and the sea that has ever been recorded on
paper, how can he know whether his own descriptions are unique
and valuable? However, he comforts himself with the fact that the
number of possible word combinations, like the number of stars in
the galaxy, is “finite but astronomically large.”
Mr. Barth noted that the St. John’s program list is a good start
ing point for one’s education. The real reason for celebrating com
mencement is not the completion of an education, but rather the
start of a lifetime of exploring new ideas.
Santa Fe president John Balkcom gave an overview of the chal
lenges this academic year had brought, with September ii having
impacted our lives and the nature of our college community. Citing
Virginia Woolf, who wrote, “One of the signs of passing youth is
the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we
take our place among
them,” Mr. Balkcom noted
that what the faculty and
staff observed this year
was
the
emergence
of a greater sense of com
munity among all of our
learners. “We come to
gether to celebrate these
graduates for the learning
they have shared and the
community they have cre
ated, for their taking a
place now among the
wider community of this
human race.”
He made lighthearted
references to many sen
iors and Graduate Insti
{The College.
19
tute students he had encountered during
the year, and talked about community
events such as the holiday concert, the
presentation of Senior Essays in Febru
ary, and Reality Weekend-when hun
dreds of paper flowers decorated trees
and bushes throughout campus.
The commencement address of Santa
Fe Dean David Levine reminded stu
dents that hberal education is a great
gift. The college gives this gift, he said,
in the hope that its graduates will devel
op proportionally in relation to challeng
ing thinkers; experience inspiration in
their own capacities for original thought;
develop new capacities to ascend to
undiscovered places; become strength
ened in facing the toughest human ques
tions; grow their own sense of responsi
bility; become more self-resourceful; and
achieve a heightened fullness of inde
pendence. “Make us proud,” Mr. Levine urged the graduates.
“Honor this education with lives of distinction.”
The class of aooa included 88 candidates for the Bachelor of Arts
degree and 25 candidates for the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts
degree. The graduates hailed from 33 U.S. states, as well as from
Israel and Canada.
For the first time in the history of the college, the Senior Class
Gift Committee achieved 100% participation from all members of
the Class of 2002. Neither campus had ever accomplished this feat.
Ms. Abercrombie and Ms. Emma Wells presented the senior gift to
the president, accompanied by a swell of applause from the audi
ence, including loud accolades from class members. The class gift
will purchase The Classics Film Collection for Meem Library.
Graduates honored with awards and prizes included Benjamin
Lorch, who received the Medal for Academic Excellence. The
medal is offered by the
Board of Visitors and Gov
ernors and was presented
by board member Dick
Morris. Anna Canning
and
Marie-Monique
Wentzell shared the
Richard D. Weigle Prize
for the best senior essay.
Among the Graduate
Institute graduates, Court
ney Manson was acknowl
edged for her excellent
essay.
St. John’s College . Summer 200Z }
Thefull text ofboth comencement addresses is on
the web: www.sjca.edufor
Annapolis and www.sjcsf.edu
for Santa Fe.
�ao
{Campus Life}
REMEMBRANCES
OF PRANKS PAST
BY Sus3AN
Borden
(A87)
t’s a warm night in early spring.
Students sit in seminar reading
Euripides, Descartes, and Adam
Smith. They work their way
through the text and follow the
conversation closely, hut spirits
are running a little high. They’ve
heard the rumors, they’ve seen
the signs. Their minds occasion
ally drift. Is tonight the night?
As the first hour comes to a close, attention
is drawn outside the classroom. A door slams.
laughter bounces down the hall. A few minutes
later a team of seniors hursts through the door. Books slam shut,
tutors are escorted from the room. Senior prank has begun.
It wasn’t always like this. Senior prank started as a daytime
event; the prank was the seniors’ way of shutting down the col
lege. Over the years it has blossomed into a a4-hour ritual, begin
ning with the nighttime break-in, following with a skit and dance
party, and continuing the next day with games and a campus-wide
picnic for students, faculty, and staff.
For the original prank, pulled in 1964 and talked about to this
day, seniors removed all the chairs from the classrooms and tutor
offices and stored them in the crawl space in the basement of Mel
lon. Tutor Samuel Kutler (A54) remembers it well: “I walked to my
classroom in McDowell with a prospective freshman and her moth
er, who were scheduled to sit in on our mathematics tutorial. As we
entered the room, I told them to please be seated, but when I looked
up the students were sitting on the table. All chairs had been
removed from the entire building. I told the students that we were
behind and I would hold class anyway. Then President Weigle
appeared. He was not amused, and he announced that there would
be no classes until the chairs were returned. I shrugged my shoul
ders, turned to the mother and the prospective student, said that
there were some good liberal arts schools in Ohio, and went home.”
That simple prank unleashed a legacy of mischief that has
driven class after class to put time and energy into creating a
memorable prank.
The class of ’68 distinguished itself with a four-part prank:
all classrooms were locked from the inside, the lobby of FSK
was transformed into a used car lot, a thirty-foot purple flag
reading “Class of ’68” in red letters flew from the flagpole,
and-thepiece de resistance—nearly two dozen steel-belted radi
{The College.
St.
als were stacked on the flagpole, a technical
feat that was as challenging to remove as it
was to install.
The flagpole-tire stunt, explains Alec
Himwich, was the hrain child of David
Roberts. “He devised a contraption with two
wooden Vs oriented perpendicularly to a long
wood pole. One V was at the top of the pole and
the other somewhat helow and opposite the
first. On this pole were fasteners that corre
sponded to those on the rope used to raise and
lower the flag. The device was attached to the
rope and a tire was placed on the upper V.
Guide ropes were attached to the lower V. Then the whole thing
was raised up by means of the flag rope. During the hoisting, the
guide ropes were used for stability. When the tire finally was
above the top of the flag pole the guide ropes were used to orient
the tire so that when the device was lowered, the flag pole would
be inside the tire.
“The whole procedure was complicated by a gusty wind,”
recalls Himwich. “Also, the operators were not the steadiest
since some of them were already imbibing in anticipation of a day
of celebration.”
The class of ’75 produced an elaborate skit-“West Street
Story,” in which Tony sang “Pure Reason” to the tune of “Maria”
and Ben Milner (HA97) was portrayed as the campus’ Officer
Krupke. They also put bookplates that read “Gift of the class of
1975” in all the books in the King William Room.
Jason Walsh (A85) remembers the class of ’8a’s Alice in IForaderland prank: “It was quite remarkable. Amusement rides were
set up on lower back campus, seemingly while we were in semi
nar. Seminars were of course interrupted by the march hare,
Alice, and the hatter, who led us to the rabbit hole (in the audito
rium stage) down into the Wonderland that was set up in the hall
ways of the basement, through the now-deserted Mellon class
room hallways and out by the Planetarium to the waiting
amusements. It was remarkably choreographed and seemed
quite magical.”
“Underclassmen were required to dance the lobster quadrille
in FSK lobby,” recalls Peter Green (A84) of the Alice prank. “The
next day we played croquet using pink flamingoes for mallets.”
The 1984 prank took the Canterbury Tales as its theme. Sem
inars were interrupted by knights, nuns, maidens, monks, a
John’s College ■ Summer 2002
}
�ai
{Campus Life}
jester, and a barmaid wench.
Dan Knight and Duke Hugh
es converted the fireplace
room of the coffee shop into
an English tavern. Grady
Harris, as the Pardoner,
stood on the steps of the
quad presenting students
with penances for the seven
deadly sins. For the sin of
pride, they were told to
dance later that evening with
everyone who asked; for
sloth, they were to dance five
dances in a row. Minstrels
entertained the wayfarers
outside McDowell and lumi
naries lit the path from the
base of the quad to the gym.
There John Ertle presided as
archbishop and head of the
ecclesiastical court, charg
ing each tutor with a sin (see
sidebar).
For the class of ’88’s
Odyssey prank, class mem
bers built in secret an i8-foothigh Trojan Horse of wood,
chicken wire, and papier
mache. John Lavery and Greg
Ferguson constructed the
horse’s frame and shaped its
outlines with chicken wire.
Karin Johns supervised the
papier mache effort, using 75
pounds of flour and endless
reams of newspaper to sculpt
the body. Several dozen sen
iors worked on the project
under Johns’ direction.
Students led out of Mel
lon and McDowell for the
Annapolis’
class of
1988
built a papier mache
Trojan Horse to rule
THE QUAD on PRANK DAY.
Prank Skits: A Retrospective
g
by Chris Denny (Ag^)
I99IA:
“Operation Dorm Storm” Fielding Dupuy’s haunting portrayal of a crazed
army officer shocked 90’s audiences with its stark portrayal of a nuclear apoc
alypse, as well as a campus without Chase-Stone. The special effects of a cam
eraperson running forward while shooting with a Camcorder in order to simu
late a smart-bomb brought the cinematography of SJC Senior Pranks into a
new era of artistic brilliance. Rated PG13 (language, and lots of it).
i99aSF:
“Oscar Night” Matthew Kelty stars in a hilarious parody of Hollywood’s
wildest night of the year. Rated R (language, sexual situations and potty
humor involving large bowel movements).
T993A:
“It’s a Wonderful Life” Starring Tom Lind as Clarence and Millicent Roberts
J as God, this touching story involved Devin Rushing’s horrible nightmare of a
world in which SJC was transformed into an “overpriced basketball school.”
With Walter Sterling, Sr. reduced to Up-synching “Achy-Breaky Heart” at Mar
maduke’s and a demonic Andre Barbera (played by the dashing CoUn Meeder)
J bent on reducing Western Civilization to rubble, only the fearless James Beall
I can rescue SJC, and a terrorized Patricia Locke (Deirdre Crosse), from oblivI ion. Rated SJC (wicked nasty satire and monogrammed female gludii maximi).
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
start of tbat prank were con
fronted with the enormous
beast. Ele Hamburger (A87)
remembers its demise: “A
storm hit after the horse had
been up a few days. I remem
ber it being blown up so it
reared on its hind feet and
then collapsed.” However,
she adds, “I am not entirely
sure this is not a false memo
ry, since it is so cinematic in
my mind’s eye.”
The 2002 prank included
a return to the mischief
making aspect of the tradi
tion. Assistant Dean Judith
Seeger says that the seniors
sent letters to a number of
students saying that the state
of Maryland now required
random urine testing for
drugs. The letters were
accompanied by small paper
cups and recipients were
instructed to bring a sample
to the director of Student
Services by 3 p.m. on prank
day. Seeger reports that no
one showed up at the Student
Services office, but she
heard that several prankees
visited the health center that
day.
Pranksters also ticketed
every car in the college park
ing lots. “After a few calls from
disgruntled drivers, I walked
around and removed them
myself,” says Seeger. “Except
for the one on college presi
dent Chris Nelson’s car.”
�1
2,2
{Campus Life}
A BUDDHIST
IN THE BOOKSTORE
Bookstore manager Andrea dAmato
brings an awareness ofEetstern thought to Santa he.
hat makes a good college
!
bookstore? Surely, as with
t
any other kind of bookstore,
^^k
^^k
t
a comprehensive selection
^^k
!
of books, current as well as
^^k K ^^k !
classic and attractively dis^^k
^^k^
played, ought to be near the
top of anyone’s list. HosY
Y
pitable environment would
also seem a must, encouraging the customer-student or teacherto linger and browse. Then there are the less obvious attributes
such as efficient management practices ... but wait. Shouldn’t the
more relevant question be not what makes a good college book
store but who?
Untold numbers of the St. John’s community in Santa Fe
would have only to point to Andrea d’Amato, who has been man
ager of the bookstore for more than ao years, for the answer.
Personal affection and professional admiration for this
unusual woman-she is a novice Buddhist priest and mother
of an adopted fifteen-year-old girl as well as successful
businessperson-comprise their views in more or less equal
proportion.
“Bookstore people are special people,” says Georgia Knight,
who has been a tutor at St. John’s since 1974. “Andrea personi
fies the best of them. She has been a close friend for many years
and unflaggingly helpful to me. She has made books a real
adventure. She helps me trip over things I wasn’t necessarily
looking for. But what I admire most are her enthusiasm, per
suasiveness, and generosity of spirit. She radiates friendship.”
Ralph Swentzell, who joined the St. John’s faculty 35 years
ago, credits Andrea’s management skills for the “exceptional”
qualities of the bookstore and also declares that the whole East
ern Classics program, which he and a colleague, Bruce Perry,
launched as an experiment only la years ago, “owes its exis
tence” to Andrea. He explains: “I was an amateur at first,
assigned to Chinese language. Andrea began auditing my class
of IO or II students and got very excited. She helped us work out
the language as a computer program. Eventually we had a full
lexicon in front of us and translated Confucius, Lao-tse, Chi
nese poetry, and other works.
“But it was a very tumultuous affair bringing the Eastern Stud
ies program into being. The college was ethnocentric in those
days. In that environment we kept asking ‘How (in this institu
tion of great books) can you ignore Eastern studies?’ The book
store was a not-so-subtle influence on the college’s decision to
adopt the program, with Andrea making sure that there were
great books on Eastern studies available and prominently dis
played on the front table.”
It would seem natural to assume that her close association
with the burgeoning Eastern Classics program directly influ
enced Andrea’s decision to become a Buddhist, although such
was not entirely the case. Working in a bookstore, however, was a
serendipitous situation for her at a time of great personal crisis.
“It was a case of having ready access to books that bore on my
overwhelming need for a way out of my suffering,” she says. “I
was seeking spiritual enlightenment for my pain, for my great
heartache. My heart, in fact, broke open to Buddhism as soon as
I started reading from a list of texts I had encountered through
suggested Eastern Classics texts. I began with the “Acts of the
Buddha” by a second-century Indian writer named Asvaghosa. It
was the first time I had encountered the Four Noble Truths of
Buddhism and as soon as I read those I thought Wow! This is
what I’ve been looking for. This is my medicine. This addresses
exactly what I’m feeling.”
Andrea immersed herself in the great primary sources while
continuing with her job. “I realized that this was not a way out of
suffering but I had to start meditating. If you want to realize it
you have to sit. You have to. I read enough Buddhism to know
that it cannot just be read about. I learned that in order to bene
fit from it you need to practice. One of the main practices is
Zazen, which is sitting practice. So I sought a meditation
teacher.”
After many years of sitting. Buddhism became essential to
Andrea. In December of 2000, she shaved her head to become a
priest, a novice, she explains, in the Zen Buddhist belief, with its
strong traditions of meditation and honoring of ancestors.
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
�{CampusLife}
23
A novice priest carries forward the form of the practice. The tra
three-and-a half months in the making.
Andrea made a pilgrimage to the Chinese temples that Dogen
dition Andrea practices is Japanese Soto Zen, which is based on the
four noble truths. The differences in the forms of Buddhism he in
(the founder of the Japanese line of Buddhism) traveled to in the
the ritual, the services, the practices. The Tibetan tradition is very
13th century. “I was able to sew on my robe in the very room ded
rich iconographically, with colorful temples, painted demons on
icated to Dogen, originally a 900-room monastery Tien Tong.
the walls, and beautiful images. The Japanese tradition is very
This is of deep importance to me because Dogen is part of the
stark, sparse and beautiful,
direct lineage,” says Andrea.
“Dogen found the true dhar
but very simple. “A priest is
ma
again, and brought that
trained in the form-how you
tradition
to Japan. Every
approach the altar, how the
morning
we
put the robe on
incense is offered, which way
you turn from the altar, how
our head, and with our
chants we vow to liberate all
you hold your hands during
human
beings.”
the service. Since I am a
Little in Andrea’s early
detailed person the Japanese
background, except perhaps
tradition suits me well,” says
a youthful restlessness, a dis
Andrea. “It’s all in the details.
satisfaction with the way her
God is in the details. A priest
life was going, would seem to
can transmit and carry the
augur what appears to be its
form to the next generation. I
present happy resolution.
don’t know if I will arrive at
She stopped attending the
that level of service, as I am in
Catholic Church while in
training and will be for many
high school and dropped out
years, but that is what I am
of the University of Massa
doing-paying close attention
chusetts in Amherst (where
to details.”
she worked part-time in a
Andrea has made pilgrim
bookstore) because, she says,
ages to China and Tibet,
“I had too much living to do.”
where she circumambulated
She became active in the
the hohest of mountains. Her
women’s movement and con
hope was to manifest the
sidered for a while opening
dharma more in her life. After
up a feminist bookstore
that experience, she decided
somewhere with a friend.
to become a priest as a way to
During a visit to Santa Fe, she
be more involved in Bud
answered an ad in The Santa
dhism.
Fe New Mexican for an assis
To become a priest in this
tant’s position in the St.
tradition, Andrea had to cre
John’s College bookstore.
ate her own robe by hand,
She became its manager in
though she hadn’t done any
1981.
sewing since home economics
“The bookstore, along
in seventh grade. She also
with
my colleagues and
copied by hand sacred texts
friends,
” she says, “has been
from the 13th century. And,
my
anchor,
the stabilizing
she had to shave her head.
Every stitch is a prayer: Andrea d’Amato wears the robe she made
fact
of
my
life
in Santa Fe. If I
The robe, an okesa, is com
WHEN SHE BECAME A BuDDHIST PRIEST.
am
credited
with
helping to
prised of patches of material
make
it
an
important
part of
that she gathered from family
the college life I’m grateful for what it has given back to me.”
and friends. With an intricate design, it is a personal project. The
She enjoys spending weekends with her daughter Nandita at
pattern derives from the Buddha, who, standing with his disciple,
home in Taos. With this melding of family, career, and belief, it
said he wanted a robe with a pattern after the rice fields. “All the
is no wonder that she considers herself, as she says, not just con
stitching shows on the outside and every stitch is a prayer,” says
tent, but a person on the path of awakening as well. Says Andrea,
Andrea. “Not something that could be done while watching TV or
“At night we say, ‘Let me respectfully remind you...Do not
doing anything else. It took a lot of concentration, time, and effort,
squander your life.’ ’’-i^
accompanied by a candle, incense, and prayer.” The robe was about
{The College.
Sf.
John’s College Summer 2002 }
�{Bibliofile}
^4
BEYOND THE
BARR-BUCHANAN MYTH
Review by John Van Doren, A47
eloquent, the other, quizzical and complex
in all he said. Yet their spirits reflected two
old traditions in America, of Virginia and
Massachusetts, which had met before.
Barr, inclined to history, had graduated
from the University of Virginia; Buchanan
was a philosopher, educated at Amherst
and Harvard, who said he got an under
standing of his subject not from either
school but only afterwards, as assistant
director of the People’s Institute, offering
adult education, in New York.
At Oxford, where they were Rhodes
Scholars, they found they had a common
interest in speculative thought and the dis
verybody connected with St.
cussion of ideas. Buchanan went on to pur
John’s, and many ontside it,
sue both and discovered their sources in
know that Stringfellow Barr
the Great Books, which he took up with
and Scott Buchanan were the
students at the People’s Institute as well as
founders, in 1937, of the Pro
with some of the faculty at Columbia Uni
gram by which the college has since been
versity, among them Mortimer Adler,
known. Some are aware that when they left
Richard McKeon, and Mark Van Doren.
St. John’s, both men worked together on
Barr, with whom he kept in touch, went
other projects, less well defined, having to
back to Virginia, where he was an
do with what might be called the state of
immensely successful but unrepresentative
the world, and that after many wanderings
they came to the Center for the Study of
Democratic Institutions in California,
where both served for a time and where
Buchanan worked until he died in 1968.
But who were they? How did they come
to think they should do the things they did?
What did they seek to accomplish by doing
them, nearly always together as friends and
colleagues in a relationship which, begin
ning at Oxford in 1919, lasted till
Buchanan’s death? These are matters most
people don’t know much about. We are
thus indebted to Charles Nelson (class of
1945) for having written this fine book,
which provides an account of them that will
be instructive, even essential, not only to
those who cannot remember those years,
but also to those who can.
Barr and Buchanan made an unlikely
combination: the one, hot tempered and
Radical Visions: Stringfel
low Barr, Scott Buchanan,
and Their Efforts on Behalf
of Education and Politics in
the Twentieth Century by
Charles A. Nelson. With an
Introduction by William H.
McNeill. Bergin & Garvey,
Westport, CT, 2001
E
{The College- St. John ’5 College - Summer 2002 }
teacher who sat on his desk in a green suit
and purple shirt and talked basic texts with
his students.
By the end of the iqaos, both men had
come to think that American higher educa
tion was badly in need of the kind of reading
and discussion they were carrying on in dif
ferent places. To this end, and notwithstand
ing the failure of an early effort to institute
such activities by Buchanan’s friend Alexan
der Meiklejohn at the University of Wiscon
sin, the two men joined forces at Virginia in
the mid-i93os and formulated a plan for a
college within the college there which antic
ipated the St. John’s Program. But Virginia
never adopted this, and it was only when
they were approached by the trustees of St.
John’s, a school in grave academic and
financial difficulties, that they found an
opportunity which they accepted, not with
out qualms, to practice what they preached.
What happened there is known to every
one at this college, or if it isn’t, Mr. Nelson
will recall it for us. Within four years, the
Program was recognized everywhere in the
country as a striking innovation, supported
in some quarters, disapproved of in others.
The effort seemed to have succeeded. But
then came the war and the student body
went off to fight, while much of the new fac
ulty disappeared. Barr and Buchanan kept
the college going with inadequate funds and
students who had not finished high school,
but the effort was exhausting. They were
further tried by the attempt of the Navy to
acquire the college campus for expansion of
the Naval Academy, a struggle that ended
only in 1946 when the Navy gave up. By then
both men, besides being weary, had soured
on the college’s prospects in Annapolis and
decided to leave, rejecting funds offered for
its continuance there, to the dismay of the
trustees.
In truth the two had come to think that
something more than St. John’s was needed
�{Bibliofile}
2,5
'"The two came to think that something more than St. Johns
was needed to make sense ofthepost-war world..
to make sense of the post-war world they saw
emerging-something perhaps with under
graduate, adult education, and research
facilities combined. Then they realized, or
thought they did, that even this was less than
what the times required, which was a new
politics and a new technological and social
order. Their subsequent involvement in the
Foundation for World Government, their
separate sojourns in Israel and India, and
their last brief interval together at the Cali
fornia Center-years in which they both
wrote interesting and important books and
pamphlets-can be seen as efforts to suggest
ways in which these changes could be real
ized. Nothing they did was successful in
terms of tangible accomplishment, but most
of it was prescient in its focus on what we
now recognize as world realities.
Was there a divide between what the two
did for education and what they tried to do
in other areas later? Superficially, yes, but
in essence, no. From the first, as young men
with intellectual interests and capacities,
they thought the world was in need of a bet
ter understanding of itself than its educa
tion gave it. St. John’s was an attempt to
provide this. But the forces of technological
change and social upheaval that appeared
after the Second World War seemed to
require a different kind of examination,
though with the same objective. Barr and
Buchanan, and the associates they got to
work with them, sought to discover for
themselves and explain to others what the
underlying problems of the world were,
looking foolish to those who thought
“something should be done at once” about
these, but seeming wiser now as we realize
most of them are still there.
All along, both men maintained that
inquiry and discussion were propaedeutic
to action. Every enterprise they started or
tried to start had something of the seminar
about it. Always they found themselves
questioning first formulations and digging
back to the root of things, so far as they
could find it. In that sense they seemed to
live the life of this college wherever they
went, and partly it was so. But in another
sense it was the other way around. That is
the lesson of this book. Unique though it is,
the college imitates something greater than
itself. It is but a station of the active intel
lect, nurturing in its given way an abiding
interest in things brought to it by two who
were bound on a common odyssey, a con
cern that comes only (if I may change my
figure) from those on lean horses and fat
donkeys whose journey never ends.
Short Reviews of
Alumni Books
ters fits well with Bellamy’s other Cleve
land crime books: The Corpse in the Cellar,
The Maniac in the Bushes, and They Died
Crawling.
Phaethon, of Radamanthus House, attends
a party at his family mansion to celebrate
the thousand-year anniversary of the High
Transcendence. There he meets an old man
who accuses him of being an impostor and
then a being from Neptune who claims to be
an old friend. The Neptunian tells him that
essential parts of his memory were removed
and stored by the very government that
Phaethon believes to be wholly honorable.
Phaethon embarks upon a quest across the
solar system to recover his memory and
learn what crime he planned that warranted
such preemptive punishment.
100 Names oe Mary: Stories and Prayers
By the staff of The College
A Priest’s Journal_____________________
Victor Lee Austin (SF^S)
Church Publishing Incorporated
Austin writes about his ministry as a parish
priest in a small town in upstate New York,
about his work as a theologian, and about
the intersection of the ordinary concerns
and profound questions that priest and
parish share and explore.
Anthony F. Chiffolo (AGIg4)
St. Anthony Messenger Press
Calling upon Scripture, the writings of the
early Church, the pronouncements of the
saints, papal statements, and recent bibhcal
and theological scholarship, this book pro
vides historical and theological explanations
of the origins of one hundred of Mary’s most
popular and intriguing names. Each of the
names includes both traditional and newlywritten prayers of intercession to Mary.
OE Cleveland Woe_____________________
The Golden Age: A Romance oe the Far
Future_______________________________
John Stark Bellamy II (Ap)
Gray & Company
This book of Cleveland murders and disas-
John C. Wright (A84)
Tor Books
In this well-received science fiction novel.
Killer in the Attic; And Still More Tales
{The College -St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002
Periodically, The College will list or review
alumni books. Please send notice of books
pubhshed or review copies (which will be
donated to the library’s alumni author col
lection) for consideration to: The College
Magazine, St. John’s College, Box 2800,
Annapolis, MD 21404.
}
�{TheProgram}
a6
STATISTICS VS. PTOLEMY
Has St. John s made the right choicesfor the math tutorial?
Alumni in the corporate world discuss theprogram.
By Sus3AN Borden, A87
igh up in McDowell Hall, math tuto
rials work their way through Euclid,
Ptolemy, Newton, and Lohachevsky.
Meanwhile, in a large corporation
in Washington, D.C., three recent
St. John’s graduates are doing the
work of computer science PhDs.
Was it the symmetry of the spheres,
the ingenuity of the ecliptic, the
lucidity of Newton’s lemmas that prepared them for this demand
ing work?
Their boss, Eric Rosenblatt (A74), says no.
Rosenblatt, a vice president at Eannie Mae, began hiring John
nies in 2000 and currently has a hand in the careers of eight John
nies who work at Fannie Mae, the secondary market enterprise
that makes mortgage money available for lenders. He expects to
hire more Johnnies.
His original decision to take a chance on the St. John’s grads
was in part because of a lingering affection for his alma mater, but
mostly because he thought it made good business sense. “Corpo
rations live and die on good labor. I get paid because people who
work for me make good decisions,” Rosenblatt says. “I decided
that St. John’s would be a filter for employment. The students are
intelligent and motivated. Although Fannie Mae has incredibly
high standards, programming is something that, if you’re smart
and you really want to do it, you probably can.”
Rosenblatt continues to do most of his hiring at the annual
meetings of the Allied Social Science Association; the staff he
finds there are PhDs, which he says are simple to hire because
PhDs tend to meet his criteria. But they’re also expensive and not
always willing to do the simple charts and tables that convey the
most insights. He points with pride to Jon Lawless (Aoo) and
Brian Shea (Aoo), who started working just after they graduated.
“Those two are already competitive with PhDs,” he says. “They
started at around $50,000, but I’ll tell you something: they were
worth more. I’m sending them to grad school and over time their
earnings and opportunities will climb.”
Although Rosenblatt has developed a win-win arrangement for
Fannie Mae and St. John’s, he finds himself frustrated by what he
sees as the limitations of the St. John’s math program.
He says that the program’s lack of emphasis on mathematical
mastery is a significant and unnecessary deficiency in an other
wise fine education. It cuts many graduates off from entering a
{The College
number of careers that would be of interest to Johnnies. “Stu
dents at St. John’s don’t have the typical math background of col
lege graduates entering the social sciences. Sociology, experi
mental psychology, economics-these are all fields Johnnies
would enjoy,” he says. “The prerequisites are a few years of cal
culus, statistics, maybe linear algebra. If they don’t have it, it
seems like a daunting hill to climb, one more thing to keep them
from targeting a career objective they would find satisfying and
do well in. And if you want to go into engineering or the hard sci
ences, you’re just in the hole. You avoid making the decision to
undertake the work that graduate school would require and then
it gets to be too late.”
Recently retired Annapolis placement director Karen Krieger
says that a long-term undertaking of her office was to make sure
that students-from as early as their prospective visit-know that
the St. John’s curriculum must be supplemented by additional
courses for students seeking careers in math and science. “Stu
dents have long known this is the strategy in medicine, and now
there’s a growing understanding that this is the case in other
fields. Once you get your education at St. John’s, you then go back
and pick up your required courses,” says Krieger.
“Getting enough math for careers is easy to do,” says Annapolis
dean Harvey Flaumenhaft. “A number of students go on to careers
in math and science. For example, several recent graduates are
now studying astrophysics at George Mason University. “It’s true
that we don’t do statistics, but our students can go to the commu
nity college and take elementary statistics for a semester. If we did
statistics, we’d have to give up something else. Now don’t get me
wrong. The absence of their treatment does not mean that statis
tics are not important. There are a lot of important things we
don’t study here. Not only things we should do, but things that it’s
an outrage not to do. We can’t do everything-we have to make
choices.”
. Sr. John’s
The Math Gap
A pack of recent Johnnie graduates working at Fannie Mae go
to lunch and-no surprise-a seminar breaks out. They’re dis
cussing Rosenblatt’s ideas and talk turns to Annapolis’ calculus
manual (a brief handbook presenting the rudiments of calculus as
done with more contemporary notation and notions). Using the
manual is one of the few points of universal agreement, but the
concord is not positive. The alumni are frustrated that the manu
al is neither one thing nor another-not an original text, but not a
College • Summer sooa }
�{The Program}
"Distilled modem math alsoprovides excellent mental training, also
integrates and reinforces a variety ofprogram readings and labs. ”
Eric Rosenblatt, A74
St. John’s College Fannie Mae
Misha Hall, and John Lawless
campus:
Eric Rosenblatt,
are a few of the
Johnnies who
WORK FOR the SECONDARY MORTGAGE ENTERPRISE.
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
a?
�aS
{The Program}
textbook either, offer
ing just two or three
problems to illustrate
each concept.
John Lawless, now a
Fannie Mae economist
working toward a mas
ter’s of finance at
George Washington University (paid for by Fannie Mae), suggests
pages of additional problems to supplement classroom discus
sion. “The people with me in graduate school are not that smart,”
he says. “The advantage they have is that they’ve seen a lot of this
stuff before. They have a broad exposure to basic math.”
Lawless illustrates his grad-school handicap by bringing up the
simple operation of multiplying exponents as part of an equation.
“Of course I know how to do it. It’s simple. But I always have to
take a second to remind myself how to do it. This makes high level
math that much more difficult, having to translate such small
things each time.”
Rosenblatt knows exactly what Lawless means. He now has a
PhD in finance, which he started working on at the age of 35. “I
was always translating,” he says. “Math never became my lan
guage.”
Flaumenhaft (not at the lunch, but commenting later) points
out the trade-offs St. John’s makes. “I’m not someone who thinks
that the program contains everything that’s important, worth
while, fundamental and deep, but we can’t do everything at once,”
he says. “I took some high-powered math courses early on. I did
well, but I wish that before taking them I’d done something like
what we do here. It might mean you can’t solve some problems as
early in your academic life, but if you’re interested in understand
ing and not immediate facility, if you’re interested in looking at
what makes sense and is simple enough to be seen as harmonious
and clear, something that is fundamental and fruitful enough to
be important when you’re 18 or 19 years old, then this is far more
important than getting what seems to be the most useful item in
your tool kit.”
Rosenblatt says “I understand that math at St. John’s serves a
lot of purposes, including training in a priori thinking and inte
gration with other readings in the program, but distilled modern
math also provides excellent mental training, also integrates and
reinforces a variety of program readings and labs. Beyond that, it
will concretely help Johnnies with their careers. I worry that St.
John’s students are not all finding careers appropriate to their
abilities, and I think
the math gap is part
of the problem. Why
is Ptolemy more ele
gant or better train
ing
for
future
guardians than gen
uine calculus?”
Some of the lunchers point out that the college is not just for
people with strong interests in math, and that the St. John’s
approach can show non-mathematicians the wonder of mathemat
ics, can even turn them into mathematicians. Most determined to
make this case was Misha Hall (Aoo), a data analyst who writes
requirements for and runs tests on the Fannie Mae database.
A Beautiful Paradigm
“The way we go about studying Euclid in the first year is great.
You have the chance to see the beauty of mathematics,” Hall says.
“And Ptolemy is really interesting. By the end of the first semester
you have to catch yourself, because you’ll end up saying that the
earth is really in the center of the universe. Mathematics proves
everything Ptolemy says; this makes you question the things that
you assume, it makes you question numbers and statistics.”
Others in the group were not so fond of Ptolemy, saying that the
amount of time spent studying the Almagest is ridiculous, even
describing the first semester of sophomore year as “the long
death march through Ptolemy.”
Flaumenhaft, however, appreciates Hall’s case for the value of
Ptolemy. “Ptolemy is maybe the primary example of having expe
riences that are puzzling precisely because there’s so much about
them that seems simple, clear, orderly, and beautiful, yet there’s
just enough to bother and annoy. The activity of trying to make
sense of observations given to you, while something within your
self points to an idea-it’s a beautiful paradigm of scientific enter
prise. I regard the study of Ptolemy as an important intellectual
experience. There’s the interplay of the world we see and the
world we think, but it’s also a necessary prerequisite for appreci
ating the absolutely astounding fact that when you start thinking,
you can end up with everything familiar looking altogether differ
ent.”
At lunch’s end, Rosenblatt prompts the Johnnies to repeat a
line he’s heard before and obviously enjoys. Lawless obliges; “If
you want to learn math, go to MIT; if you want to learn why math
is heartbreakingly beautiful, St. John’s is the place for you.”
{The College- St. John's College ■ Summer 200Z }
�{Alumni Notes}
1932
Senior Status, Growing Caseload
1943
J.L. Bean writes: “I hope to make
Peter Kellogg-Smith is still
my 70th reunion.”
making sculpture, writing on edu
cation, and working on a fuel effi
cient internal combustion and
steam engine.
1933
John F. Wager, Jr. writes: “Still
alive at 91 years.”
1935
Richard S. Woodman writes: “My
brother Robert G. Woodman,
class of 193a, died June 2001.1 am
still working at a leisurely pace and
still reside in a small dehghtful vil
lage in central New York state.”
“I’m 88 and still rarin’ to go,”
says Melville L. Bisgyer. “My
best to the alumni and SJC. You
sound wonderful-keep it up.”
1936
Gilbert Crandall writes: “Only
one member of the class of ’36
attended the alumni reunionMarttn W. Rausch. I had planned
to attend but ill health prevented
me from doing so. I have improved
and hope to make the ’03
reunion.”
1939
After 59 years, Malcolm Silver,
DDS, has retired from the practice
of dentistry.
1942
Based on national scores of the
PGA Rules test, Ernest J. HeinMULLER has been appointed a PGA
referee. “This has been a great
experience, following the great
players on great courses and rul
ing on situations as they occur,”
he says.
1945
Lawrence Levin writes: “I’m cur
rently leading discussions of the
news at Seniors’ Community Cen
ters, which I enjoy very much as I
do singing tenor with the local
chorus.”
1947
Steve Benedict writes: “After 50
years behind too many desks. I’ve
repaired to a 1754 farmhouse, with
barn and creek, in Spencertown,
New York-northern Columbia
County. My aim: to sort out and
maybe chronicle a whole bunch of
not very coherent life themes,
helping it all go dotvn with plenty
of tennis and piano. If anyone can
help-or even if you can’t-give a
ring and drop by. It’s 518-392-0487
or Box 16, Spencertowu, NY
12165. E-mail is:
stevebenedict@taconic.net.
Howell Cobb (Class of 1944) writes: “As of March 2001,1 took senior
status as a U.S. District judge. But my caseload is growing as it is
throughout the Eastern District of Texas. My replacement has been
nominated by President Bush, but the Senate Judiciary Committee has
not granted him a hearing. After he is confirmed, I anticipate my case
load will be about 60% of what it is now. Senior judges remain active,
and there are over 200 now with about 650 active judges. About 100
vacancies continue.” Howell and his wife have six children-3 sons and
3 daughters-and a total (as of now) of 18 grandchildren. His grandson,
Andrew C. Cook, starts in the Graduate Institute this fall.
enjoying worshipping in the con
gregation in the 49th year in the
ministry.”
1951
“The college did an exquisite job
in arranging our 50th class oncampus reunion,” writes Dr.
Lawrence Myers. “It was both a
charming and an educational
experience for us. Renewing my
friendships with my classmates
made me feel very fortunate to be
a class member of such a noble,
intelUgent, and interesting group
of men.”
1953
Robert Hazo reports that he is
1949
The Rev. Frederick P. Davis
writes: “We ‘3-D’s’ of the Davis
clan (wife Rita, son David, and
self) are still hanging loose in
sunny southern California. Most
of the time we continue to take
care of each other: Rita tied to
tank-oxygen here at home but
doing most of the inside house
work; David in wheelchair from
compound fracture of both bones
below left knee but doing all the
hot cooking of dinner, and the ‘old
man’ doing all outside house and
garden work while running all
errands for food, etc. Relieved of
most church work; I’m at long last
finishing up 30 years of teaching
St. John’s type seminars at the
University of Pittsburgh. He also
coordinated a lecture series that
featured many prominent speak
ers, including George W. Bush.
He’s now working on a book titled
“Minority Rule.”
1954
A profile of Sydney Porter was
found by Joe Kaufman (class of
1953) in the winter 2001-2002
issue of Radon Reporter. The pro
file recounts highlights of Porter’s
career: He is a founding member
and early president of AARST
(American Association of Radon
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer zoos }
Scientists and Technologists), a
Certified Health Physicist, and a
fellow of the Health Physics Soci
ety, the American Nuclear Society,
and the American Association of
Physicists in Medicine. He was one
of the founders of Radiation Man
agement Corporation.
1955
“Maintain imperturbable equa
nimity! ” writes John Joanou.
Harold Bauer is in mid-season of
his 40th year as a conductor of
symphony and opera. He wiU con
tinue as Music Director of New
Philharmonic and DuPage Opera
Theater, two professional organi
zations in the Chicago area,
through the summer of 2004. He
has just concluded conducting
Massenet’s “Werther,” which he
says “shares a quite remarkable
union with Goethe’s novella of 125
years earlier.” In addition to a
concert of Brahms, Bartok, and
Bauer (the premier of his “Cele
bration for Orchestra”), he con
ducted a June production of
Lehar’s “Zigeunerliebe” for Light
Opera Works in Evanston, and a
July production of Floyd’s “Susan
nah” for DuPage Opera.
1957
Thomas Sigman writes: “Henry
Ansell passed away summer 2001.
Hank had been a successful restau
rateur in New York City. He was a
�{Alumni Notes}
lifelong opera buff. In retirement
he volunteered in several impor
tant positions at the New York
Metropolitan Opera. We remem
ber him also as a fine comedian
who could have been a profession
al. I miss him.”
Cornelia Hoffman Reese writes:
“In the aftermath of the tragedy of
9/11 when our stunned senses had
to recreate a semblance of normal
ity and daily living habits, we
decided to go forward with plans
to visit my daughter’s (Angelina
Kleneburgess, A83) friends in
Brussels. On Christmas day after
our celebration with children, we
departed from BWI. We included
myself, Angelina, Edward
Burgess (A79), and my Burgess
grandchildren—Genevieve, Louis,
and Cynthia. Though unable to
visit Mary Sullivan Blomberg in
Sweden as hoped, I was able to
have a most delightful phone con
versation with Mary, our first
voice contact in roughly 30 years.
Mary is living in Stockholm.”
1958
BlakelyLirrLuroN Mechau (also
SFGI70) and Michael K. Mechau
(class of 1959) write: “Both of us
are retired, living on a small farm,
reading books, and entertaining
friends and family.”
few months ago from Bank of
America, where I ran all informa
tion technology engineering activ
ities. Am doing a bit of consulting,
but am basically thoroughly enjoy
ing life. Marie and I are traveling
around, indulging our interest in
orientalia. We’re frequenting auc
tions and estate sales. I’m finding
life is wonderful after many years
of i8-hour frenzied days! ”
1963
Temple Porter has lived in
Raleigh 30 years with Brenda, his
wife of 35 years. After graduating
from Coach University in 1997,
Temple founded Triangle Coach
ing Services, a professional organ
ization that provides coaching,
counseling, and advisory services
to businesses and individuals
nationwide. In its infancy now,
coaching is gaining great credibil
ity as it spreads to all facets of our
culture. Any St. Johnnies interest
ed in exploring this growing field
may contact Temple for informa
tion. Empty nesters now. Temple
and Brenda have three children-a
social worker, a property manag
er, and a photographer-all in
N.C. Their oldest grandchild (of
3) is a teenager now, and is ready
to take scuba diving lessons as
preparation for a career in marine
biology.
David Benfield writes: “We
i960
Col. (RET) John Lane writes:
should all try to make the reunion
this year. Remember the old
advice from Chase and Phillips:
‘The beautiful is difficult.’ ”
“Hi, decided to retire completely
from a full-time job and retired a
Life’s Continuum
Virginia Seegers Harrison (Class of 1964) writes: “I’m continuing
to learn from the elders with whom I work. Even though they are
‘declining,’ they are storehouses of memories. (Many are old lefties
who recall firsthand WWI and so on.) I try to arrange living situations
which preserve or promote quality of life for them. In the meantime,
my eldest son and his wife had another child-a girl this time. It’s won
derful to have a two-year-old grandson and a 6-month-old granddaugh
ter, and to see the continuum of life.
1965
John Hetland is still (since 1973)
directing the Renaissance Street
Singers (www.streetsingers.org).
1966
really enjoying the one-on-one
therapy.”
Charles B. Watson (A) writes:
“#i son, Ivan Watson, now report
ing from Kabul for NPR. Busy life
continues unabated now that we’re
empty nesters and I still only get to
New York City two times a year.
Recently experienced 3rd world
health care as Masha broke her
arm on a boat in BVI.”
Christopher Hodgkin (A) is
Antigone Phalares (SF) writes:
looking forward to retiring this
summer and having time for seri
ous reading for the first time since
leaving the college.
“Our small but longstanding and
dedicated Sacramento SJC semi
nar group chugs along and enrich
es our lives, most of all because we
are lucky to have Tom (HA94) and
Marion Slaeiey who have blessed
us with their culture and refine
ment and warm hearts. I strongly
recommend to each alumni semi
nar that they seek out retired
tutors and nudge them to move
into your area and participate in
your seminars.” She describes the
Slakeys’ renewal of their wedding
vows this past January and notes
that she, Arianne Laidlaw (class
of 1957), and Curtis and Becky
Wilson (HA83 and 82AGI) were
among the Johnnies in attendance.
1967
For Helen Hobart (A), March
through June 3002 was a season
springing with change. She retired
as director (and founder) of the
City of Sacramento’s Alzheimer’s
day program to launch a new pro
gram of peer support groups for
individuals beginning the journey
of memory loss-and in June, unit
ed in marriage with a beloved
friend from her Buddhist Sangha.
“We take heart from the beautiful
renewal of wedding vows that TOM
(HA94) AND Marion Slakey held
here in Sacramento this winter!”
she says.
George Partlow (A) is looking
forward to retirement in June. His
fifth grandchild, Dakota Aragron
Watson, was born on Christmas
morning.
Rick Wicks (SF) was in Alaska
1968
Joy Avery-Balch (SF) writes: “My
email is still joy@tums.org. Let
me tell you about my new career. I
went back to school for three years
and got an associate’s degree in
Health Sciences in 1999 and am a
Certified Occupational Therapy
Assistant. However, there were no
jobs for C.O.T.A.s nationwide
until now. I’ve just been hired by a
national rehabilitation company
and finally earning enough money
to live on (my first non-not-forprofit job) AND still helping peo
ple cope with the problems caused
by strokes, heart attacks, acci
dents, etc. I’m working in two
nursing homes with rehab and
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
last summer for the first time in
ten years, where he had a chance
to visit Carl Bostek (SF) and his
fantastic Alaskan lodge. “We visit
ed our land and the kids and 1
caught salmon in the ocean-a
great time!” he writes.
ThomasG. Keens (SF) writes: “I
am a professor of pediatrics, physi
ology, and biophysics at the Keck
School of Medicine of the Univer
sity of Southern California. In
February 3002,1 organized a post
graduate course in Non-Invasive
Ventilation of Children with Res
piratory Failure as part of the 5th
International Congress of Pedi
atric Pulmonology in Nice,
France. I also spoke on Transition
ing CCHS Patients to Non-Invasive Ventilation at the Second
�{AlumniNotes}
About the Four Cats. ..
1970
31
which will be torn down. We
expect to spend winters there once
both boys are in college.”
Marii ynne (Maury Wills) Scott (SF) writes: “My husband David
and I enjoyed to our daughter, Emily’s, May graduation from Sarah
Lawrence College. She has been accepted at Yale Divinity School
where she will pursue a master’s of Art and Religion to combine her
interests in music (trombone) and liturgy. I continue to teach first
grade in a suburban school outside Seattle. This year will be my asth
in public education. The standards/accountability movement has
been discouraging to those of us who prefer to view children as
human beings glorious in their uniqueness. They say life begins
when the dog dies and the last child has left home-both of which
have happened to me. So how did 1 end up with four cats?! ”
International Symposium of Con
genital Central Hypoventilation
Syndrome in Paris, France. I coor
dinate one of the world’s largest
home mechanical ventilation pro
grams for children at the Chil
dren’s Hospital, Los Angeles. We
have sent home 346 children on
part-time or full-time mechanical
assisted ventilation in 34 years.”
Ellin Barret (SF) is a member of
the board of California Revels-a
non-profit performance organiza
tion. Revels groups exist in nine
cities across the U.S. and present
non-rehgious winter solstice pag
eants and other musical events. It’s
a great way to celebrate the winter.
The website is www.revels.org.
1969
Jamie Cromartte (SF), Frances
Burns, and Mark and Linda
Bernstein (all A69) met at the
Trenton Thunder Minor League
game on August 19. A mini-’69
NJ/Phila. Reunion.
Wendy Watson (SF) writes: “I’m
alive and well in Detroit, Michi
gan. I’m running three senior cen
ters and concerned with aging pol
icy development. My daughter
Amy is 15 and interested in theater
and is a good actress. She’s mak
ing her way through Shakespeare.
Peace and justice activities on a
local level are important to me.
Most of my friends are somehow
engaged in these activities too.”
Beth Kuper (SF) has left the cor
porate world and is now working
as a feng shui consultant.
Margaret Gaefney (SF) writes:
“My home is now 30 blocks from
Luther Burbank’s Home and Gar
den. I’m planting roses, tomatoes
and chilies in Santa Rosa, Califor
nia. Ahh! The Sun! Good for baby
boomer bone marrow. There is a
guest bedroom-St. Johnnies are
welcome. I’m doing landscaping,
nutritional-RN triage (cradle to
grave) and photography.
Barhara Mordes Ross (A) writes:
“To all the ones who have ever
known me, loved me, despised
me-I just want you to know that I
held each and every one of you in
my heart as I lay near death after
being broadsided by a truck that
went three feet into my driver's
seat. I was miraculously saved,
first by my good dear little Maxima
that I’ve loved and taken care of
for 17 years because she talks to
me. Second, by the red trauma
team that wanted to beat out the
blue trauma team to rescue me. I
ended up with six broken ribs, a
broken clavicle, a collapsed lung,
and a new love for old friends.
Now, when I say I love you to peo
ple I haven’t talked to for thirty
years, I realize how much I do love
them.” Barbara would appreciate
phone calls (407-493-4047) or let
ters (3913 Autumnwood Trail,
Apopka, FL 33703) from old
friends. Flowers would also be
lovely.
Susan Swartzherg-Rubenstein
(SF) (formerly Susan Wood) is
working as a foreign correspon
dent for public radio while living
in France. She can be reached at
Ssrub@aol.com, or by post at 6,
Impasse Pierre Simon, 93340
Malakoff, Paris, France. She
writes: “The St. John’s College
alumni living in Paris had a
reunion last month in the cafe at
the top of the Pompidou Center
with a magnificent aerial view of
half of Paris, sweeping from Sacre
Coeur to the Eiffel Tower around
to Notre Dame, and looking over
the plan of the city and the Hausmannian mansard rooftops.
“It was a delightful, unrushed
afternoon of fellowship with some
discussion about how we would
like to continue meeting. The five
of us included Bill Randolph
(A75), Nathanael Long (SF90),
Jennifer Donnelly (A96),
Georges Contos (class of 1953)
and yours truly. We have plans to
meet again on June 31, this time at
someone’s home, to discuss the
following list of poems:
Pierre de Ronsard - “Recueil:
Sonnets pour Helene”
Robert Herrick-“To The
Virgins, To Make Much of Time”
W. B. Yeats-“When You are Old”
Jules LaForgue-“Autre
Complainte de Lord Pierrot”
Thosophile Gautier-“L’hippotame”
T.S. Eliot-“The Hippopotamus”
Ronald H. Fielding (A) writes:
“Now in my seventh year with
Oppenheimer Funds, managing
four municipal bond funds with
over $8.5 billion (yes, that’s a B)
and 30 staff. Ron was the subject
of a three-page spread in Barron’s
April 39 issue. Sons Daniel and
Michael are in nth and 9th
grades, so college planning has
begun, and I showed Dan St.
John’s this summer. Also, we’ve
just begun architectural design
work for a new house on the beach
on Kiawah Island, S.C. I bought an
older house on the property from
Archibald Cox three years ago.
{The College . St. John’s College ■ Summer 200Z }
1971
Michael ViCTOROFF (A) has left
his job as medical director for
Aetna and is writing a book on
errors in medicine.
John Stark Bellamy II (A) is
astonished to announce the publi
cation of his fourth book devoted
to Cleveland murders and disas
ters, The Killer in the Attic: And
Even More Tales ofCleveland Woe,
published by Gray & Co. Publish
ers, Cleveland.
1972
Claude F. Martin (A) writes: “30
years? It seems longer! ”
Leslie Starr (A) has played a
third season as substitute second
oboe with the Baltimore Sympho
ny and took part in the orchestra’s
fall 3001 tour of Europe, which
included performances in London,
Paris, Berlin, and Vienna.
1973
Wilfred (Bill) McClay (A) was
nominated by President Bush to be
a member of the National Council
on the Humanities, which is the
governing board of the National
Endowment for the Humanities.
Deborah Achtenberg’s (A) book.
Cognition of Value in Aristotle’s
Ethics: Promise ofEnrichment,
Threat ofDestruction, was pub
lished by State University of New
York Press, May 3003.
Stephen A. Slusher (SF) is prac
ticing intellectual property lawprimarily biotechnology patent
prosecution and litigation, as a
partner at Peacock, Myers &
Adams, P.C. in Albuquerque.
�{AlUMNIPrOFILE}
3a
White House Wordsmith
Two bright September days—onejoyful, one tragic—have
set the tonefor Holly Miller's White House work.
BY SUS3AN
Borden A87
t was a crisp sunny Saturday
in early September when
Holly Miller (SFGIoi), a
new writer on Laura Bush’s
staff, brought her visiting
parents with her to the Jefferson
Building of the Library of Congress
to hear the First Lady speak at
Washington’s National Book Festi
val. “It was a beautiful day and a
great event for the city,” Miller says.
“We heard Mrs. Bush’s remarks,
strolled around, watched children
playing on the lawn, and listened to
Stephen Ambrose speak.”
Three days later, September ii,
was also a beautiful day in Washing
ton, but instead of celebrating.
Miller found herself and her col
leagues from the Old Executive Holly Miller (right) with hoss Laura Bush.
Office Building fleeing their work
space in confusion and fear as a
Boeing 767 struck the Pentagon and the thinking that no matter where you live or
safety of downtown D.C. seemed unimagin who you are, there is a level at which we can
all connect. Even more simply, I was think
ably flimsy.
Despite the somber note that tragic day ing that there are so many good people out
brought to the lives of Washington workers, there.”
Miller says that the excitement of work
it did not mark the end of Miller’s honey
moon with her dream job. “After 9/11 the ing in the White House has not diminished
position definitely had new meaning,” says over time and adds that she’s never met
Miller. “The attacks gave me a greater anyone, no matter how long they’ve
sense for where I worked and why I was in worked there, for whom it had. “Anyone
public service. Having the opportunity to with any interest in history can’t help but
write for someone who is in a position to be thrilled to work here, to walk through
offer comfort to so many people made me these hallways. It’s so humbling, so fasci
realize that I was to contributing to the larg nating. I’m always learning about the his
tory of this place.”
er work of the White House.”
Miller is learning about a lot more than
Shortly after the attacks, Mrs. Bush’s
staff relocated to the East Wing of the the history and lore of 1600 Pennsylvania
White House where Miller now works in a Avenue. An ongoing challenge of her job is
small office next to the Visitors’ Center. to capture the style and sentiments of Mrs.
Over the next few months, a number of fam Bush to use in the writing she does on her
ily members of the 9/ii victims visited the behalf.
“It’s a learning process,” she says. “I
White House. “It was inspiring to meet
them and an honor to have the chance to trained under my predecessor, who had a
express my condolences,” she says. “They good sense of Mrs. Bush’s voice. I’ve read
were so brave and gracious. I remember her old speeches. Sometimes I can go back
{The College -St John's College • Summer 2002 }
and find what I want to write in a
speech she delivered months ago.
Learning to write for her is a matter
of marrying of my style and her style;
her style changes and I evolve with
her.”
Of course in Miller’s potentially
sensitive position, getting the style
right is only part of the challenge.
She discusses policy-related corre
spondence with Mrs. Bush’s direc
tor of policy. When she writes
thank-you letters to foreign heads of
state, she consults the National
Security Council.
And all her work is checked by the
First Lady before she signs it. “My
communication with Mrs. Bush
comes through the written word,
which informs my style,” says Miller.
“She’s the best editor. Her changes,
whether of a word or a sentence,
make everything read just right.”
Miller’s a competent editor on her own.
She notes that all of her jobs-whether in
government, television, or public relations-have been writing jobs. After earning
a BA in English and creative writing from
Denison University in 1995, she began her
career as a writer and legislative aide to Sen
ator Olympia Snow of Maine and enrolled in
the Craduate Institute at St. John’s in 1997.
“What a great time to do it,” she says. “I
was reading texts about early government
and how democracy came about, reading
The Prince while working on the Hill.”
Now Mrs. Bush’s deputy director of corre
spondence, Miller’s literary focus is prima
rily on the words and thoughts of the First
Lady, although she does make time to read
the words of others. “I just finished reading
the David McCullough biography, John
Adams, and I’m trying to read more from
the great collection of books I got at St.
John’s,” she says. First on the list for this
White House staffer? Alexis de Tocqueville’s
Democracy in America.
�{AlumniNotes}
Jon Ferrier (A) writes; “I just fin
ished an introduction to jazz pro
gram at our local public library
where Kayne, my wife, was branch
head.”
Laurie Franklin Callahan’s (SF)
daughter, Erin Callahan, will be a
freshman on the Annapolis cam
pus in the fall.
From Steve and Melissa Sedlis
(both A): “Steve is chief of cardiol
ogy at the Manhattan VA Medical
Center. He is an interventional
cardiologist and associate profes
sor at NYU School of Medicine.
Melissa is a pediatrician in private
practice in Manhattan and on the
faculty of Weill Cornell Medical
College and Mt. Sinai School of
Medicine. Our oldest daughter,
Elizabeth, is graduating from
Barnard College with a degree in
neurosciences. Our second daugh
ter, Jennifer, is a sophomore at
Scripps College studying political
science, and Julia is in high
school.”
School of Architecture. He is also
a painter and is presently design
ing large screens (oil on wood) and
continuing to work in pen and ink.
Cynthia Kirschner Swiss (A)
writes: “My husband and I are
sponsoring a coffeehouse for
singer-songwriters at St. John’s
Methodist Church on Harford
Road in Baltimore the first Satur
day of every month.”
“I’ve largely left newspapering for
longer forms,” writes Eric
Scigliano (SF). “A new book.
Love, War, and Circuses: the AgeOld Relationship Between Ele
phants and Humans was published
by Houghton Mifflin this spring.”
1976
Phyllis P. Goodman (SFGI)
became a great-grandmother on
March 22.
After over ao years as a computer
consultant serving the healthcare
industry, Jan Lisa Huttner (A) is
now devoting herself full time to
her web site FILMS FOR TWO:
THE ONLINE GUIDE FOR BUSY
COUPLES (www.films4a.com
<http://www.films4a.com/>) and
related speaking and writing proj
ects. Alumni who logged on this
summer had an extra treat-a guest
editorial by David Chute (Aya).
Landrun Hardy Mason (A)
writes: “I’m living happily in the
Connecticut countryside with my
wife and daughter. Our son is now
a freshman at MIT, and I’m in my
third career. After 10 years each as
a computer scientist and then a
corporate manager. I’m now an
investment advisor and fund manager-and loving it. Would be
thrilled to hear from any of my
friends from my abbreviated
career at St. John’s.”
1974
1977
Alla and Jeff Victoroff (A) are
pleased as punch to announce the
birth of their beautiful daughter
Maia on February 23, aooi.
1975
In addition to his editorial work at
the University of Miami in NorthSouth Center, Jose Grave de Per
alta (A) is teaching art history at
the Art and Art History Depart
ment and freehand drawing in the
WalterT. Featherly (SF) writes:
“As of July I, 2001,1 joined the
Washington D.C.-based law firm
of Patton Boggs, but I continue to
reside and work in Anchorage,
Alaska.” He’d like to hear from
any Johnnies traveling to Alaska.
Bob Elliott (A) writes: “I have
just started my own investment
banking/securities boutique after
18 years at JP Morgan. I am happy
to discuss careers on Wall Street
with interested students/alumni,
especially those in the Chicago
area where I live with my wife,
Stephanie, and three daughters.”
1978
Victor Lee Austin (SF) writes:
“In the spring of 2002, three
Austins celebrated graduation. I
received my PhD in theology at
Fordham; my dissertation title: A
Christological Social Vision: The
Uses ofChrist in the Social Encycli
cals ofJohn Paul II. But also in the
same season, our son, Michael,
received his BA from Thomas
Aquinas College; and our daugh
ter, Emily, graduated from high
school. My wife, Susan (Gavahan,
SF76), doesn’t quite know what to
think, but is enjoying some physi
cal and mental improvement of
late. (In 1993 she had brain sur
gery. ) A book of my meditations, A
Priest’s Journal, was published in
late 2001 by Church Publishing in
New York.
Peter Buck (SF) continues his
work to set up a year-long rites of
passage workshop in North Caroli
na and continues his work with
Quakers.
1980
Peter Grubb (A) writes: “2002
celebrates 18 years of marriage,
the 8th and nth birthdays of our
two lovely children (Mariah and
Jonah), and 23 years owning my
business ROW (River Odysseys
West/Remote Odysseys World
wide). ROW’S Missouri river
adventures, paddling 34-foot
canoes that replicate those of the
early fur traders along the Lewis
and Clark trail, are selling like hot
cakes. Visit ROW at
WWW. rowinc .com.”
1981
Chris Mark (A) bought a house in
Laurel, Md. in late 2000. “It’s
within earshot of I-95, so any
33
Johnnies passing through the area
are welcome to stop by for a
refreshing beverage. My email
address is cjmark@speakeasy.org.”
Matt Hartzell (A) writes:
“Amongst other fun and frolic. I’m
now on the Board of Directors for
a new bank we helped organize
and start up. The Right Bank for
Texas opened its doors May 13. I’m
still waiting for my Director’s fees,
but I guess I haven’t drawn the
right ‘Chance’ or ‘Community
Chest’ card yet!”
Marilynn R. Smith (SFGI) writes:
“I’m retiring this year from the K12 school district for which I’ve
worked for 27 years. I’ll continue
to teach, though, for the local
community college. Also I’ll have
time to spend with my 4 grandchil
dren!”
1982
Gail Donohue Storey (SFGI), a
novelist, and her husband. Dr.
Porter Storey, bicycled 2400 miles
in seven weeks from Houston,
Texas to Camden, Maine on their
tandem bicycle, fully self-support
ed with four panniers.
Kathi Sue Nash Wilson (SF) has a
daughter, Karina, who graduated
in June from the University of Cal
ifornia at the age of 19. The family,
which includes her husband Wayne,
and seven-year-old son Kennedy,
are relocating this summer.
Patty (Sowa) Rubin (A) is living
on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with
husband Eric and children Anna
(16), Madalen (12), and Alden (8).
“I’m teaching preschool music
(best teaching job I’ve had, for the
worst pay), directing church
choir, singing as soloist and as
member of local choruses. Cur
rent improbable ambitions: to
have my own office and sing Die
Wesendonk Lieder.”
David HershelWeinstein (A) has
lived in Florida since 1985 and is
still the director of research for a
brokerage firm. He’s recently
continued on p-jG
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
�{Alumni Profile}
34
Unmasking the Apocalypse
A Johnnie parodies a hest-selling series ofapocalyptic novels.
BY Sus3AN
Borden
(A87)
rebuilt and the sacrificial system reestab
lished as the world prepares for the apoca
lypse) has ridden one wave of popularity
after another since it first showed up in
the 19th century. He says that, not only
does the dispensationalists’ vision rob
Christianity of its depth and meaning, but
its promoters often have another agendato rob Christians of their
worldly possessions.
“Dispensational theolo
gy has always been a rest
ing place for thieves. In
the 1890s they said the
end of the world would be
in ten years. They got peo
ple to sell their homes,
give them their money,”
Wilson says. “Some peo
ple will take on massive
debt, do short term things
like not get married and
go off to work in the mis
sion field for what they
think is the world’s last
few years. There’s nothing
shallower than a Christ
culture with end-of-theworld fever, because
everything’s short-term
thinking.”
As Wilson has reflected
this shallow thinking in
the mirror of parody, he’s
caused a stir among a
number of readers of
the Left Behind series. “I
was expecting far more
anger,” he says, “but I got
a lot of feedback that was
positive and thoughtful. I
heard from people saying
‘thanks for letting people
know that the Left Behind
books are not the only
is sentences are stilted, his ed to demonstrate that historic Christian
nouns too often abstract. ity is much bigger than what Left Behind
His dialogue is plodding presents.”
Wilson says that dispensational theolo
and his reasoning is circu
lar. His characters are gy (the theological position that holds
stereotypes living in a world of cliches. His that God covenants with people in differ
plot is far-fetched and his descriptions are ent ways in different periods of history-in
this case requiring that the Temple be
long and largely irrelevant.
You’d think a graduate of
St. John’s and a lecturer at
New St. Andrews College
would know better.
And you’d be right.
Nathan Wilson (AGloi) is
the author of Right Behind, a
parody of the best-selling
apocalyptic novel Left
Behind. In Left Behind, the
world is confronted with the
sudden disappearance of a
significant portion of its
population as the true
believers are raptured, leav
ing a confused world of non
believers behind to discover
the truth and live out the
Bible’s apocalyptic vision.
In Right Behind, Wilson
mocks every aspect of the
book, from the heavy-hand
ed character development
to the clumsy writing. “I
wanted to imitate the writ
ing style, the thought
process, the plot structure.
I wanted to imitate into car
icature every literary aspect
of the work and its theolo
gy,” he says. But his main
goal was to reveal the perni
cious thinking behind Left
Behind’s theology-and its
success. “[Authors] LaHaye
and Jenkins have created a
Parodist Nathan Wilson with his son, Rory D.
false view of Christ. I want{The College.
St. John’s
College ■ Summer 2002
}
�{Alumni Profile}
option.’ And I heard from people who
have awakened and started reading
those hooks in light of Right Behind.
My goal was not to present a theology,
hut to trigger an investigation of
LaHaye’s and Jenkins’ ideas.”
Readers’ comments on Amazon,
com include: “It’s about time a Christ
ian who is concerned with what the
Bihle actually says writes a hook,” and
“I laughed my evangelical Christian
keister off.” Two self-proclaimed
authorities on dispensational theology
also weighed in, says Wilson: “Tim
LaHaye said my hook was funny hut
Jenkins got really, really mad.”
Those most critical of Wilson’s
book saw him as anti-Christian.
“Some people got really fired up and
thought I was blaspheming against
Christianity and attacking God,” says
Wilson. “But I was most certainly not
doing that. I was attacking a new and
not too long-lived movement in the
evangelical world.”
Far from being prone to take pot
shots at Christianity, Wilson comes
from a Christian background and
takes religion seriously. “My parents
came out of the ‘Jesus People’ move
ment in the ’70s. It was a bunch of hip
pies who moved on from ‘make love
not war’ to somehow find the doc
trines of Christ. My dad became a pas
tor in a Jesus People church in an auto
body shop.”
Wilson’s father is still pastor of
that church, which has become a
Presbyterian church, and Wilson
describes his parents now as oldguard historic Protestants. “I’ve lived
through most of that process,” he
says. “I was born into the body shop
church, and am now currently attend-
From Right Behind
BY Nathan D. Wilson
Buff sat by his window in business class and watched
the sun come up like a single tooth in a bleeding gum.
f He remembered that time in Israel. You know, that
J time when he became a deist and began to think that
I he led a charmed life because he always was, to coin a
phrase, in the right place at the right time.
An old woman sat across the aisle from him, a passed
out drunk next to him. He turned from his window and
looked at the old woman. She had a pair of cotton
nylon blend underpants in one hand and dentures in
the other. She stared at Buff in shock.
“Excuse me mister,” she said.
“Yes?” Buff said.
“He’s gone. My Harold’s gone. He’s just gone, van
ished, disappeared. Could you help me find him?”
“I’m afraid that there is going to be no finding him
Ma’am.”
“Why?”
“Has he left all material things behind him, clothes,
dentures, hairpiece?”
“’Ves.”
“Then he has finally turned his back on this world of
matter and all things evil. He has jumped right out of
the corruption that matter entails. He has taken every
thing essential to his being and left the rest behind. He
has reached the enlightened world of Forms where
there is no jewelry but spiritual jewels, where dentures
cannot go, where everyone is naked. He has been
Raptured.”
“How do you know?” the woman said.
“I write bad apocalyptic fiction. 1 know things.
Endtimes are my game.”
{The College
Sf.
John’s College • Summer 2002 }
35
ing that Presbyterian church.”
In addition to leading the church,
Wilson’s father founded the Logos
School, a K-ia classical school, and
New St. Andrews College, where Wil
son got his BA in 1999. “I came out of
there looking for a graduate liberal arts
program. The only thing that was
appealing was St. John’s. I was already
addicted to great books, having been
boiled in them at an early age. After
experiences with courses in other
schools, I thought St. John’s was ideal.”
Wilson has now returned to New St.
Andrews College as a part-time lecturer
in literature and will teach Euclid’s
geometry and classical rhetoric this
fall. He’s also managing editor of
Credenda/Agenda, a magazine he
describes as “a philosophically and reli
giously Trinitarian cultural journal.”
He’s working on study guides for Par
adise Lost and Faerie Queen for Veritas
Publishing in Pennsylvania and is in the
process of editing a collection of arti
cles comparing Islam and Christianity.
Wilson’s Right Behind publisher.
Canon Press, is thinking of following up
with another parody. Wilson favors a
Christian romance novel.
As for the theology that served as
counter-inspiration for Right Behind,
it’s still out there, more popular than
ever. The Left Behind series has sold
over 50 million books in 2,1 languages.
Left Behind products include 10 nov
els, five graphic novels, a6 children’s
books, several audio tapes, a calendar,
and a movie. For his part, Wilson does
not see its continued influence and
success as an impediment to his beliefs.
“I think the evangelical church is a
mess,” he says, “but I still count myself
part of it.”
�{AlumniNotes}
36
spent some time studying counter
bioterrorism and Joseph Camp
bell.
Jim (A84) AND Tish Heysell’s (A)
daughter, Maria, who was carried
across the graduation stage in
1983 as an infant when Tish grad
uated from St. John’s, has finished
her freshman year. She enjoyed
her year and loves the “great con
versation.”
Elizabeth Colmant Estes (A)
writes: “After nine years climbing
the corporate ladder at AT&T, I
found myself pregnant and ready
for new life. Joined a creative web
firm where I was the oldest
employee. Got bought out by a
bigger firm in moo. Watched the
web business disappear and my
colleagues with it. Took home the
plants and lo-foot giraffes this
week. Setting up my home office
as a business consultant. Helping
companies like the New York
Times and Morgan Stanley Dean
Witter to go paperless. Working
6o-hour weeks but mostly from
home where I can watch two-yearold Olivia play in the garden
below. This May I joined my son
Michael, 17, in Italy where he
spent the year with his sabbaticalized dad.”
Ruth Ann Smith Plummer (A)
says hello to anyone who might
remember her. She asks her old
friends to email her if they will be
attending the aoth reunion:
r.plummer@ntlworld.com.
1983
Lyn DesMarais (A) writes: “Our
kids are growing, healthy, and
active. We are engaged in a lot of
music, mainly bluegrass, and hope
to have a barn full of animals by
winter.”
From Margaret S. Mertz (SF):
“Santa Fe Class of’83 alums-where
are you? I am in my 3rd year as the
Dean of General Studies at the
North Carohna School of the Artsfinally a winning combination of
my St. John’s years in the context of
a performing arts conservatory.
Email is always welcome:
msmertz@mindspring.com.”
1986
Amy Bianco (SF) is living in
Sleepy Hollow, New York, and
working as a science editor at large
for Princeton University Press.
Her email address is amybianco@earthlink.net.
Daniel Schoos (A) participated in
1984
Liz Travis (SF) writes: “Leaving
my role in higher education was
tough, but I originally picked St.
John’s with the intention of going
on to become a lawyer, and when I
found that an annual ski pass was a
part of the deal I knew I belonged
here in Mammoth. If ever you are
wandering in the Eastern Sierras,
look me up; the door will be open.”
Er. Robert John NicoLETn, M.J.
(SF) is living in Ukraine and
searching for benefactors for an
orphanage for 14 children (soon to
be many more) and a soup kitchen
(serving over 350 people a day).
“Greetings to all my friends from
St. John’s,” writes Reth KoolBECK (A). “I keep very busy home
schooling each of our four school
age children. (We have two
preschoolers, as well.) This
sounds a lot harder than it is,
since the older kids do much of
the chores. The hardest part is
getting along with each other,
which we do for the most part. It’s
never dull, and sometimes we
have moments of glory.”
Elizabeth and John Rush (SF) and
Salem and Loran say hello from
the mountains ofVirginia.
Chris Rutkowski (A) is thrilled to
announce the birth of her daugh
ter, Rose Adelajda Rutkowski.
Russell Titus (A) writes: “It’s an
Sarah DeKorne (A) writes: “I am
exciting year for me. I have a new
job with terrific training facilities
and my wife and I are expecting
our third child in September.
Hmmm...ril be 63 when this child
graduates high school.”
working as a technical writer for a
medical software company. My
daughters, Cecelia and Helen, are
now 14 and 13.1 am remarrying in
the fall, Mark Howe. I hope to see
my classmates at our 30th
reunion.”
the Washington, D.C. AIDS ride
in June, a 330-mile bicycle trek
from Norfolk to Washington, D.C.
Stephanie Rico (A) writes: “Todd
(Todd Peterson, A87) was hang
ing out as ship’s surgeon on the
U.S.S. Stennis in the Arabian Gulf
while Steph was waiting for their
first child to arrive. Todd was
sorry to miss the birth, but came
home in May. Steph taught high
school physics up until the day it
all happened. Exciting times for
both of us.”
Elisabeth Long (A) is currently
splitting her time between co
directing the Digital Library
Development Center at the Uni
versity of Chicago and her latest
endeavor-getting an MFA in book
and paper arts at Columbia Col
lege. She had her first piece in a
gallery show in January. It was
based on the 3 Fates.
1987
Michael David (SF) writes: “Left
Sandia Labs in October 3000,
tried technology marketing con
sulting until recession arrived.
Been teaching algebra and geome
try at Sandia High School in Albu
querque. Students loved Euclid
Book I and doing propositions. I47 is still fun. Now looking for
business position.”
Sallie Fine Lewin (A) writes: “On
March 34th I married Michael
Lewin in Cleveland, Ohio. While
not a Johnnie, Mike did win the
approval of many of our fold. We
were thrilled that Jerry Abrams
(A87), Dave Heimann (A87),
SheilaMonen’Virgil (A88),
Linda Hamm Grez (A86), Tamara
{The College- St. John^s College ■ Summer 2002 }
(A87) AND Jerome Downey (A86),
Jo Ann (A87) AND Walter Matt
son (A87), and Joe Miller (A89)
could join us as we celebrated the
start of our new life together.
After a fabulous honeymoon in
Australia, we’re adjusting well to
our new filing status.”
1988
Sarah Waters (A) writes: “I’m
back on Kent Island and loving it.
I’m senior designer for Vanguard
Communications in Washington,
D.C., and doing my art on the
side. Would love to hear from my
classmates. Come visit.”
1989
George Erhard (SF) writes: “I
am currently working as an Inter
net technical course developer and
instructor and have recently re
discovered philosophy by way of
motorcycling”
Joe Miller (A) will move from
Chicago to Portland, Oregon in
late May. He will join the faculty of
Lewis & Clark Law School as an
assistant professor teaching intel
lectual property and evidence law
courses.
Heidi Ann Hoogstra (SF) writes:
“I am primarily responsible for
getting a new Buddhist Peace Fel
lowship chapter started for Port
land, Oregon. I am also the con
tact person for this new chapter. I
would love to hear from folks (you
know who you are). My email
address is enji@earthlink.net.”
Sophie Ehrhardt (Romano) (SF)
writes: “Mac and I still find our
selves in the heartland with (his)
family business and (my) growing
Montessori school, and enough
community involvement to drown
in. We know we have the two
smartest and most beautiful chil
dren this side of the Mississippi
River. If anyone knows where John
Ange (SF88) is, drop me an email:
orchards@deskmedia,com.”
�{AlumniNotes}
Jennifer Rogers Hoheisel (AGI)
writes: “Eric, Will, Luke, and I
are beginning to put down roots in
New Jersey. I just got a tenure
track teaching job in philosophy at
Camden County College. This fall
has been quite a time to contem
plate and ‘teach’ ethics, especially
with a wonderfully diverse group
of students. I continue to be an
evangelist for St. John’s style semi
nars. Eric is enjoying his 5th year
as a pastor at a local church that is
geographically and economically
between Camden and Haddon
field, New Jersey. Will is in third
grade, and Luke just started
kindergarten. We miss everyone at
St. John’s!”
Joy Kaplan (SF87) came for a
quick trip to Texas, where she vis
ited with Dixie Davis (A), Jim
Tourtelott (A73), and ran into
Kevin Heyburn (SF86) at a book
signing.
Beverly Angel (SFGI) graduated
in May from University of Texas
School of Law. She was recently
selected as one of 16 third year stu
dents (out of a class of 450) for
Peregrinus Consul. Consuls are
chosen for recognition based on
leadership and service to the law
school community. She hopes to
practice general civil litigation
after graduation. She is currently
clerking part-time at Hilgers &
Watkins, a mid-size Austin firm.
Rick Craven (A) writes: “Rick and
his wife Debbie were expecting
their first baby in July. They can be
reached at 2007 Bent Tree Loop,
Round Rock, TX 78681; rpcrfaven@hotmail.com. We’d love to
hear your news and visitors are
welcome! ”
Jeanne Blackmore (nee
Duvoisev) (A) writes: “I’ve never
written into the alumni magazine;
after all these years, I guess it’s
time! To start from the beginning,
I became a lawyer (ugh, I know,
how boring) after college, and
wound up practicing tax
law/mergers & acquisitions for
Ernst & Young’s San Jose office.
After too many years of that, I met
my husband and we decided to
take two years off from real jobs to
work for an animal rescue group in
beautiful southern Utah, Best
Friends Animal Sanctuary. We ran
their mobile adoption program for
dogs, and loved it. My firm never
let me quit completely, but for
some unknown reason asked me to
continue working part time from
home in a research and writing
capacity. This fall, after we fin
ished our two year stint in Utah,
we returned to the East Coast in
Burlington, Vermont. We are
enjoying it very much, snow and
all. I’m back to work full time for
Ernst & Young from my home
office-much better than a real
office.
Somewhere in all of that, we had
a baby boy named Benjamin Rex.
He’s eight months old now, and we
think he’s a blast! But, I guess all
parents think that about their
babies!
Over the years. I’ve kept in
touch with Garfield Goodrum
(A89); he and his wife Lucy just
relocated to Vermont. They have a
beautiful spread near Woodstock,
with horses, guest houses, and the
like. We’re contemplating moving
in with them. I’ve also kept in
touch with Alexandra Kambouris-Alberstadt (A87), who
lives in NYC and just had her sec
ond baby-a boy. And Sandro
Battaglia (A90) got married last
year and then narrowly (phew) sur
vived the WTC disaster. All three
are lawyers-egads!
I’d love to hear from any John
nies in the area or from any of my
long lost classmates! Feel free to
e-mail atjeannevt@adelphia.net.”
1990
Kevin Graham (A) has been
granted tenure and promoted to
the rank of associate professor of
philosophy at Creighton Universi
ty, the Jesuit University of Omaha.
Graham Harman’s (A) book,
Tool-Being: Heidegger and the
Metaphysics of Objects, is available
from Open Court Publishing.
Jonathan Ying (A) earned a mas
ter of industrial and labor rela
tions from Cornell University in
37
May, 2001. During his studies at
Cornell he was an intern at Amgen
and General Mills. Jon is currently
a human resources manager at
Texas Instruments’ Wireless Ter
minals business unit. His email
address is jyingioo@yahoo.com.
Sean P. Scally (AGI) and Debo
rah S. Scally NEE Lilly (AGI91)
have relocated to 9107 Demery
Court, Brentwood, Tennessee
37027 (615-373-1094). Deborah is
the editor of Bank Director Maga
zine and Board Member Magazine
and can be reached at
dscally@boardmemmber.com.
Sean is University counsel and Tax
Attorney for Vanderbilt University
and Medical Center and can be
reached at sean.scally@vanderbilt.edu. “We have two wonderful
children: Case, age 8 and Molly,
age 5,” writes Sean. “Both of us
miss all our GI classmates and
tutors and the special program
that is SJC. We’d also like to hear
from Johnnies who are near
Nashville even if you are just pass
ing through!”
Ken Turnbull (A) recently
changed law firms and is now an
associate in the Washington, D.C.
office of Orrick, Herrington and
Sutcliffe, LLP, a firm that origi
nated in San Francisco. On May 4
he married Leslie Spiegel, who
also is a lawyer in D.C. “I’d love to
hear from old friends at my email
address: kturnbull@orrick.com.”
From the parents of Mickey MeriCLE (AGI91): “In 2001, seeking to
cut back to a 10 hour day from the
hectic life of a consultant, Mickey
took a pay cut and accepted a posi
tion with Kinko’s. Six months later
Kinko’s CEO laid off most of the
California workforce and moved
their headquarters to Dallas, so
Mickey returned to one of her pre
vious employers, OFDA. The
Office of Foreign Disaster Assis
tance was glad to have her back
and posted her to Sierra Leone,
Liberia, and Mali. They also gave
her a global positioning system to
pinpoint possible landing strips
for small planes as she traveled
around Western Africa.
“From beautiful Freetown, high
on a hill overlooking the ocean,
via satellite phone, Mickey sighs
wistfully and says, ‘Someday I’ll
find a job where I can stay in one
place long enough to have a per
sonal life and have Murphy and
McDuff’ (her two bassets).
“The caretakers of M and M sigh
and hope for this too.
“Mickey’s diplomatic pouch
address is 2160 Freetown Place,
Dulles, VA 20521-2160. Her per
sonal email (bassetpal@aol.com)
at 9600 baud is available but not
answered often.”
1992
1991
Lani Makholm (AGI) writes: “I’m
Deirdre Routt (A) has taken a
position as a cataloger and refer
ence librarian at the main branch
of the Omaha Public Library.
Sally Henderson Keller (SFGI)
writes: “I am in my roth year of
teaching Honors Philosophy at the
high school level. Bruce Grigsby
(SGI95) was a great help during
the early design stages. I designed
the course featuring the seminar
method as a key component. It was
approved in 1991 and I’ve been
teaching it every year since that
time. I was honored to be chosen
the Teacher of the year 2001 (dis
{The College. 5t. John ’5 College ■ Summer 2002
trict #60, Pueblo, Go.). Again, a
graduate of St. John’s, Lenore
Trujillo (SGI95), was one of my
strongest supporters.”
}
currently through my church tak
ing a six-month certificate course
on the Islam faith. Also through
the U.S. Dept, of State I have
recently completed a two-week
course on the Near East and
Africa. When I graduated from St.
John’s, I was working for the U.S.
Information Agency which merged
in 1999 with the State Depart
ment. For the USIA, I worked pri
marily with educational and cul
tural exchanges but since the
merger, have had to get up to
speed on politics and U.S. policies
in the countries for which I am
responsible. I hope through my
�{AlumniNotes}
38
studies on the Near East to be led
to short-term mission work in
Islamic countries.”
Elyette Kirby, formerly Elyette
Block (SF), writes: “I’ve moved to
Tunbridge Wells, UK, originally
for work but am now a stay-athome mom to Benjamin and am
expecting another baby this Sep
tember. I’m always interested in
meeting up with old friends who
may be in the area.”
Victoria Burgess (SF) writes: “I
was able to catch up with Nicole
Kalman Levy (SF93) this past
August when I was in the U.S.
which was super. I am still hving
in London and would love to get in
touch with any Johnnies in the
London area.”
Greg Francke’s (A) piece,
“Israeli actions toward Palestini
ans a crying shame,” was published in April in The Citizen.
sense that I would become a
farmer. My ii-year-old mutt,
Judas, and I have been working at
Organic Herbs Unlimited in Sara
sota since September. Among the
many reasons I moved to Florida,
learning to grow food organically
is an aromatic challenge. I am also
in the process of publishing a
memoir and a collection of shorter
work, mostly poetry. At 31,1 am a
vegan, Quaker, divorcee without
an undergraduate degree! Educa
tion is a luxury for which I am
grateful every day, and hope to
finish only with a final breath. In
the meantime, Johnnies are always
welcome.”
Michael A. Baldwin (SFGI) is
now a Program Manager for the
Community Development Block
Grant Program for the Local Gov
ernment Division for the Depart
ment of Finance and Administra
tion for the State of New Mexico.
Joseph Walter Sterling FV (A)
Jim Cachey (SFGI) has recently
opened his own real estate broker
age firm in Chicago. His website is
www.jimcachey.com.
Dawn Beltz Pollard (AGI98) and
Phil Pollard (AGI93) have three
daughters-Eleanore, Anna, and
Thea. They’re opening a Waldorfinspired school in Knoxville. Phil
plays lots of drums and has about
75 music students.
writes: “Since June 2000 I have
had the privilege of working for
Project H.O.M.E., a non-profit
organization in Philadelphia dedi
cated to helping individuals break
the cycle of homelessness. Being a
part of this community has been
the most extraordinary experience
and blessing for me. I continue to
work (slowly) on my doctoral the
sis in philosophy at Emory U.”
Kevin Johnson (A) writes: “Even
1993
Sharon Fitzpatrick (A) writes:
“Despite prestigious ambitions as
an adolescent, I had an intuitive
though I was never married, I can
faithfully report that I am single
again. And loving it.”
Sarah Louise Horton Stilwell was
born March a, aooa to Millicent
and McDavid Stilwell (both A).
Laura Anne Stuart (A) writes: “I
recently started a new job as the
health educator for students at
MIT. I am also a new member of
the board of the Boston Women’s
Health Book Collective, Publish
ers of Our Bodies, Ourselves. This
spring. I’ll wrap up a sexuality
education program for 7th and Sth
graders that I’ve been teaching
since last fall at the Cambridge
Unitarian-Universalist Church. I
spend most of my days and nights
talking about sex, which is great! ”
Thomas Hammerman (A) finished
his master’s degree in library sci
ence and is now the Hebrew mono
graphic cataloger at University of
Chicago.
The Ellermans write: “Alex
(AGI): Much to my amazement
and chagrin, the Navy’s promoting
me to Lieutenant Commander this
year; just in time for my resigna
tion. We’re planning to move back
to the D.C. area, where I’ll look
for an airline job. Vanessa (A): I’m
coming up on my and year at my
law firm here in Corpus Christi
and I’m celebrating by taking up
triathlon racing. I’m looking for
ward to finding a good law firm in
the D.C. area and settling down for
awhile. Ian (SFaa): I can count to
four now! ”
Kyle Linzer (SF and EC95) is hav
ing a great time teaching dance
and yoga at Rio Rancho High
School, and “living world’s rehgions” and philosophy for UNM.
He’d love to hear from alumni. His
email is Nikosdad@aol.com.
Jeffrey Spencer Wright (SFGI)
writes: “I received a National
Endowment for the Humanities
Fellowship last summer and so got
to spend last summer in San
Diego, California, as part of a sixweek seminar titled “Greek Values
in Crisis: Thucydides, Sophocles,
and Plato.” Pat Harnett (SGIoi)
was also one of the 15 participants
from around the United States.
Marvelous experience!! Carmel
High School’s philosophy class,
utilizing a real seminar method,
continues to flourish. Motivated
high school kids can read and
think and conduct real seminars!”
Phoebe Merrin Carter (SF)
writes: My husband Greg and I had
a baby boy in September, named
Dylan Guthrie, and we are really
enjoying being parents. I am the
Youth Services manager for the
Weber County Library System in
Ogden, Utah. Since I’m out of
touch with many of my old friends.
I’d like to say hi to everyone. My
e-mail address is pcarter@weberpl.hb.ut.us.”
Nancy Marcus (A) has been
named the Director of the Nation
al Abortion Federation’s Depart
ment of State Public Policy. She
continues to live in the D.C. area
with her cat Nicoless (whose name
reflects Nancy’s ongoing struggle
to quit smoking). Nancy welcomes
email from Johnnies at nmarcus@prochoice.org.
AnthonyChiffolo’s (AGI) sixth
book, too Names ofMary, has just
been published by St. Anthony
Messenger Press.
1995
Aaron Fredrickson (SF) writes:
A Year in Tuscany
1994
Mosheh Vineberg (SF) writes: “I
Anne Schuchman (A) and James Berrettini (AGI93) write: “We
spent the past academic year living in a i6th century farmhouse on
the outskirts of Florence, Italy. Anne had a Fulbright grant to do dis
sertation research on a 13th-century woman mystic and Jim quit his
job and is currently a full-time dad to Samuel, now 3. We returned to
New York (and to reality) in July. Baby #2 is expected in October so it
looks Uke we’re going to miss Homecoming (again). Maybe Croquet
2003? Anne can be reached at; ams8050@nyu.edu and Jim at
jpb@alum.mit.edu.
think an exciting life is accessible
to everyone everywhere, wherever
you find yourself, provided that
you listen to your heart and make a
little time each day or each week
to cultivate your dream and life
purpose. My dream/purpose is to
live as a Jew in Israel, build a fami
ly, learn Torah and make art.”
{The College. 5t. John’s College . Summer aooa }
“I’ve had an eventful fewyears. The
condensed version is that my wife
and I have returned to my native
soil in the San Francisco Bay Area
after finishing law school and
spending a mostly futile year in Vir
ginia. I’d very much like to speak
with any Johnny lawyers hving in
the area, as I’ll be taking the bar
this July and am curious about what
is, by reputation, the hardest bar
exam in the nation. Also, I’d love to
speak with any current or former
Johnnies contemplating law school;
�{AlumniNotes}
Sarah Van Deusen Flynn (A)
writes: “We are finishing our tour
in Guam, which has been wonder
ful. In September 02, we are head
ing back to the D.C. area. I am
leaving medical school for good to
he with my two boys.”
Texts for Tots
Mike Layne (SF95) writes: “My wife, Rachael, and I have been mar
ried three years as of June la, 2002, Our daughter, Audrey Rae
Layne, was born on February 12, 2002, in Anchorage. I spend at least
30 minutes each day reading her sections of Rousseau’s Discourse on
the Origin ofInequality and Emile. Marx is next on our reading list.
We are still living in Barrow, Alaska, and I am working as a counselor
at an emergency shelter for youth. Would love to hear from SJC
alumni and tutors. You can email me at mike_layne@hotmail.com.”
Faith Echele (SF) writes: “I am
it’s not as bad (or good) as you
might expect! I can be reached at
aefredrickson@rocketmail.com
if any of you would like to get in
touch.
someone who remembers the peo
ple who shared her St. John’s expe
rience more fondly than you might
imagine is welcome to do that at
webmaster@franzworld.de.”
Janet Sutherland (SFGl) writes:
Sean Stickle (A) writes: “I am in
“I finished seminary, moved to
Kansas City, and started a church.
Go figure. I’m also writing a book.
My web site is www.churchofantioch.org/coakc.html or write me at
suncliff@planetkc .com.”
love with and married to a woman
of profound excellence, who is
applying to the Graduate Institute
to acquire her own SJC-style edu
cation. On less important fronts, I
am employed as the Senior Manag
er of Information Systems at the
Corporation for Enterprise Devel
opment, a national nonprofit
research and economic develop
ment outfit, where most of my
time is taken up with the spectacu
lar intricacies of XML routing and
financial systems integration. I
encourage any Johnnies who want
to get into the bizarro world of
IT/IS to drop me an email at stickle@cfed.org. The field needs more
people who have read the Posteri
or Analytics. Really.”
In August, Aaron Benjamin
Rutherford (AGI) will begin his
fourth year and his internship at
Southern College of Optometry in
Memphis, Tennessee. His address
is 543 Par Drive/ Apt. 12/ Marion,
Arkansas 72364.
Angelika Franz (SF) writes:
“One among many things St.
John’s made me believe in was to
follow one’s call-which I already
put into practice with my decision
to leave the college after my fresh
man year. The fascination with
Greeks and Romans, however, has
never left me and led me to a PhD
in classical archaeology last sum
mer. After having done archaeolo
gy (among other things like waitressing and organizing
humanitarian aid transports into
Kosovo) for some nine years, the
call to follow was something else
St. John’s made me believe in: the
power of words. So I traded in the
ancient stones for current events
and am now working as a freelance
journalist. I guess what still sums
it up for me today, ten years after
having left St. John’s, are the four
wise words of Mr. Aigla: ‘Trust no
one. Trust yourself. Read every
thing twice. Enjoy life.’ Anyone
who cares to spare a few words for
Thea Agnew (SF) writes: “I’m
self-employed as a consultant to
rural communities, mostly work
ing on planning community proj
ects and seeking funding. Still liv
ing between Anchorage and
McCarthy. Getting married this
fall out in McCarthy. Saw Mike
Layne (SF) and Rachael, his wife,
and his beautiful new baby Audrey.
Will be seeing them again in Bar
row later this month.”
Gil Roth’s (AGI) publishing com
pany, Voyant Publishing, has
recently released two novels: Paul
West’s The Place in Flowers Where
Pollen Rests and Samuel R.
Delany’s The Mad Man. He hopes
to reissue Walter Pater’s On Plato
and Platonism in 2003.
{The College.
St.
currently teaching lower elemen
tary, ages 6-9, at Henson Valley
Montessori School in Temple
Hills, Maryland. I would enjoy
connecting with St. John’s alumni
in the Maryland/DC area. Also,
Henson Valley Montessori is in
need of Great Books discussion
leaders. We are looking for people
willing to volunteer once a week
to guide literature discussions
with elementary students.”
Tucker Braddock (A) writes:
Married an Aussi in Sydney in
December 1998. Live in Annapo
lis, work in Washington making
money. Daughter born December
2001: Ivy Elizabeth. 7 lbs. 13 oz...
In case you’re wondering, still
interested in Jesus; haven’t found
Hinduism, Ms. Hack.”
Rohert A Gammon II (SGIEC)
graduated May 19 from the Uni
versity of Hawaii with a PhD in
East Asian Languages and Litera
tures (Chinese). His dissertation
is titled “A common architecture
for expressing linguistic theories:
With illustrations from Chinese
languages, cognitive grammar,
and software engineering.” He
was selected to participate in a
National Science Foundation
summer program in Taiwan.
Patricia Greer (AGI) received a
PhD from the University of Vir
ginia in May, in history of reli
gion. Her dissertation is titled
“The Net of the Mahabharata.”
Ms. Greer is a tutor at St. John’s in
Santa Fe.
In December 2001 Benjamin
Friedman (SF) earned his MFA in
film and television production
from the University of Southern
California. He’s living in L.A. and
looking for a job in the entertain
ment industry.
Tracy Whitcomb (A) and Josh
SiLBERSTElN (A94) are now
John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
39
engaged. They’re planning a fall
2003 wedding.
1996
Adrien Dawson nee Gehring (A)
finished seminary in May and was
ordained in June at the Baltimore
Episcopal Cathedral. She and her
husband, Sean, moved from NYC
to the Towson area following grad
uation. Adrien is now the assistant
rector at Trinity Church, Towson,
Md.
Amy Jane King (SF), formerly Amy
Jane Borsick-Stanton, writes: “I
am back in NM, studying Spanish
and silversmithing, making arts
and crafts. I am also a balloon
twister, you know, I make balloon
animals.”
Ezra Nathaniel Hubbard (SF)
writes: “After making movies in
L.A. and New York, met wife on
tropical island of Hawaii and got
married June 23, 2001 in St. Louis,
Missouri. Now live in Taos, New
Mexico, where we are very happy—
would love to have any alums come
and stay with us.”
1997
Salvatore Scibona (SF) received a
Pushcart Prize for one of his short
stories. It was published in the
Pushcart Book ofShort Stories: the
Best Storiesfrom a Quarter-Centu
ry ofthe Pushcart Prize in January.
Salvatore is currently a Fiction Fel
low at The Fine Arts Work Center
in Provincetown, Mass.
Leslie Norton (AGI) is unem
ployed at the moment. She is try
ing to change careers from teach
ing to working for an international
aid organization. If you read this
and you can help, feel free to con
tact her. She’s in the SJC Alumni
Directory. Leslie is in touch with
Aaron Mannes who spends his days
writing serious stuff about the
Middle East (he’s looking for a job
too) and she also remains in con
tact with George Strawley-he’s
still working for AP in Penna.
�{AlumniNotes}
40
Artist Inya Laskowski (SFGI)
showed her work at two solo shows
in 2,002,: Gallery Route One, Point
Reyes, Calif, (encaustic minia
tures) and Sebastopol Center for
the Arts, Sebastopol, Calif, (recent
work). She will also exhibit in a
two-person show at Pacific Union
College, Angwin, Calif, in Septem
ber as well as several group shows
throughout the year. She says her
art is moving into a new phase
because she now has use of
a large press.
Larissa N. Parson (A) is still in
grad school-slowly working
toward her Classics PhD. She’s
taken up running marathons.
Diane Marie Shires (SFGI) and
Christopher Patrick English
(SFGI97) were happily married on
December 37, 3001 on Santa
Catalina Island, Avalon, Calif.
They note that this was 135 years
to the day Darwin set off aboard
the HMS Beagle. Tricia Daigle
(SFGI97) was in attendance.
Jehanne Dubrow (A) is currently
Billy Sothern and Nikki Page
at the University of Maryland
working on an MFA in poetry. She
attended writing workshops at the
University of Prague this past
summer.
(both A) were married in their gar
den at their home in New Orleans,
La. on March 30, 3003.
JillNienhiser (SFGI) is now the
Director of Writing and Web
Development at Mind & Media,
Inc. in Alexandria, Virginia.
1998
Stephen Conn (SF) found himself
in New York City for most of 30013003, involved in film and art
studies, as well as being an intern
with the Pulse Theatre. While
studying at the New York Film
Academy he made three short
films, two of which relate to Sep
tember II, while the third is a little
vignette which features Steve as
the main character. These films
were recently shown at an under
ground film event in New York
City. There is a copy of these three
short films on VHS in Meem
Library at St. John’s College in
Santa Fe. He sends his love to all
his old friends at St. John’s.
David Turney (AGI) writes: “Wife
Stephanie (Bardis) recently gave
birth to our first child, Christo
pher David. I gave up France and
goat cheese adventures for a
career in scientific publishing with
Reed-Elsevier. Contact us: writerscramp@worldnet.att.net.’’
Marjorie Roueche (A) writes:
“We are expecting a baby girl,
though we’re still working on a
befitting Greek name.”
Dawn Star Borchelt (A) sends
what she calls a silly rhyme:
“Though I live not far away/To
Annapolis, I rarely stray./Early
Autumn, Early Spring/Never
work. You see the thing/Is that
work requires my presence/Most
often at these times ofyear./Alas
my fond, fond alma mater-/Many
moons shall pass’ere I draw near.”
Lorna Anderson (SF) became
Lorna Johnson on May 35, when
she married Aaron Johnson at the
Woman’s Club of Evanston in
Evanston, Illinois. Aaron is a clas
sical pianist who received his mas
ter’s degree in music performance
from Northwestern University in
1993 and has been performing
original and classical composi
tions in the Midwest and east
coast. Lorna is pursuing publica
tion of her poetry in various jour
nals and has become an active
member of RHINO: The Poetry
Forum, an annual poetry journal
based in Evanston. She welcomes
anyone passing through Chicago,
and can be reached at velvet_6o636@yahoo.com.
1999
Paul Ronco (SF) writes: “Hi all,
hope everything is going well for
you out there in the real world.
What more should I say? The
Army was fun, St. John’s was fun
ner [sic]. Drop me a line at pronco@hotmail.com anytime.”
Cheryl Hut (AGI) writes: “I am
living in Scotland with my 3-yearold son, Gabriel, who was born a
week after graduation. I am work
ing on an M. Litt in Shakespeare
Studies at the University of St.
Andrew’s and love this town by the
sea. I would love to hear from any
St. John’s alumni in Great
Britain.”
TracyNecroux (A) graduated
from St. Andrews in June. She’s
now living in Ilhnois and hopes to
begin teaching soon.
Greg W. Koehlert (SF) writes:
“Moved from Atlanta to New York
City in June. Teaching in an LD
High School-Enghsh, History,
Outdoor Education, and yes,
Euclid Book i.”
Ruth Busco (SF) writes: “I am
currently enrolled at the Tradi
tional Acupuncture Institute in
Columbia, Md., where I am pursu
ing a master’s degree in acupunc
ture. I ivill start seeing patients in
September-anyone in the area
interested in the institute or in
acupuncture treatment please feel
free to contact me by phone 410313-0991 or email (rmbusko@hotmail.com)!”
2000
Abigail Weinberg (SF) has been
accepted into a masters program at
the School of Forestry and Environ
mental Studies at Yale University.
Andrew Burgard (SF) is attend
ing an intensive Czech language
program at Indiana University.
Anne Berven (SF), Alexis Brown
(SF), and RaifeNeuman (SFoi),
will not leave the college. Mr. Neu
man is constantly outside smoking,
contemplating which office he will
work for. Ms. Brown is attempting
to finish the EC program and her
last pack of cigarettes. Ms. Berven
is communing tvith the young
minds of America while she
attempts to find her car keys.
Eowyn Levene (A) has been work
ing in an organic, brick-oven bakery
(The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
for the pastyear or so and has
recently spent a few months travelhng in New Zealand. She is begin
ning a two-year apprenticeship to
get her diploma in biodynamic agri
culture. She will be doing this at a
community for the mentally dis
abled in Gloucestershire, England.
Paul Spradley (A) writes: “Hello
ya’ll! I’m still teaching math in the
Mississippi Delta and am fixin’ to
graduate from the University of
Mississippi with a master’s degree
in curriculum and instruction. In
addition to my teaching duties I
have been made head baseball
coach. Unfortunately, that sport
was not well covered in intramu
rals in Annapolis.”
Anna Marissa Abbott (SF) writes:
“I am interested in knotving about
job opportunities in Santa Fe. I’m
currently working part-time at a
Sylvan Learning Center (as I have
been for the past year). Hello
Kelsey Bennett, wherever you are,
I hope you are happy. Jennifer
Rogers, Matthew Duffy, and
Kathy Pluth-1 send you my
regards and God bless...”
Karina Noel Hean (A) writes: “I
am moving back to New Mexico to
start an MFA program in fall 3003
at NMSU in Las Cruces. Feel free
to stop by for a visit! Have had a
lot of luck getting artist residen
cies, one in Harper’s Ferry, W.V.
and one at VSC, Vt. And a few
small shows. (P.S. did not go to
Amsterdam, not enough $$.)
email: karinahean@hotmail.com”
Christopher Vaughan (A) recent
ly visited Fletcher Cunniff (A) in
Catonsville. Christopher writes:
“I’m attending and loving every
minute of Flagler College. I hope
to get my degree in deaf education
by 3005. All of my former class
mates are in my prayers. If anyone
is near St. Augustine let me know.
I would love to hear from any
alums. Best wishes to old friends
like Tim Freeman (Aoi), Adella
Fay (SF), PaulNino (A), and
Claudine Cristoforides (A). At
first I was bitter about getting dis
enabled. Now I am just proud of
the time I had with you all at such
a wonderful school! ”
�{Alumni Notes}
Alice Baldwin (SF) writes; “I
hope everyone is well!”
fall. I thought four alumni in one
department was strange enough to
be worth noting.”
Alan Rubenstein (A) won a Uni
versity Fellowship to study lin
guistics at Georgetown University
this fall.
Lizzie Jump (A) writes: “I just fin
ished a year of service to Volunteer
Maryland (an AmeriCorps pro
gram) in Baltimore at the Neigh
borhood Design Center. I’m prob
ably going to move to North
Carolina and start working
towards a master’s degree in psy
chology. Folks should feel free to
email me if they’ve questions
about AmeriCorps.” Lizzie’s email
is iameloise@yahoo.com.
Wyatt Dowling (A) writes: “I just
finished my first year of graduate
school at Boston College in the
political science department. Eric
Dempsey (Aoo) is here too and two
other Johnnies, Steve Ide (SFoi)
and Jonathan Culp (Aoi) are
starting grad school at BC in the
2001
so that I may really focus on this
opportunity. I’ll most likely try to
make a move into journalism and
catering when I return. If I
return.”
Ian Mullet (SF) and Ben Judson
ing forward to retirement. Big ups
and much love coming out of
Crimebridge.”
(SF) are both teaching in San
Antonio, Tex. at Judson Montes
sori School, which is run by Ben’s
parents, James Judson (SFGI95)
and Gay Judson.
Talley ScROGGS (A) writes: “Upon
Basil Bryan Thorpe Cleveland
finishing my seven weeks as a
“debutante” student at L’Ecole
Francaise at Middlebury College my
goal was to move to France. Follow
ing my budding passion for food as
an object of study and of course
immense pleasure, I found an
apprenticeship with a Frenchtrained American chef and teacher
named Robert Reynolds. From
March to May 2,002, I’ll be living in
Montesquieu, France, going to mar
kets and cooking regional cuisine.
I have yet to plan the next move
leaving my desire to plan behind
(A) writes: “I will gladly host any
Johnnies passing through the
Chicago area-I’ve got a futon and
some floor space you can borrow
just for the asking.”
EbenLasker (SF) writes: “Look
Joel Hopkins (SF) is working in a
program for troubled youth in
Santa Fe right now. He took cours
es in art history at Tulane Univer
sity and at the College of Santa Fe.
He has received a scholarship to
pursue an MA in art history and
criticism at SUNY Stonybrook
starting this fall.
Calling All Alumni
The College wants to hear from
you. Call us, write us, e-mail us.
Let your classmates know what
you’re doing. The next issue will
be published in December; copy
deadline is October 15.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Box 2800. Annapolis,
MD 21404; s-borden@sjca.edu.
In Santa Fe:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Public Relations Office,
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa
Fe, NM 87505-4599;
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu.
Alumni Notes on the Web:
Read Alumni Notes and contact
The College on the web at:
www.sjca.edu - click on “Alumni.”
{Obituaries}
Rogers Albritton
Rogers Albritton, class of 1945, a professor of phi
losophy at University of California at Los Angeles
and at Harvard, died on May 21. He was 78.
Mr. Albritton was born in Columbus, Ohio, to
a physiologist and a chemist. He began his stud
ies at St. John’s but left to serve in the Army Air
Forces in World War IL He returned and gradu
ated in 1948. Mr. Albritton received a master’s
and a doctorate in philosophy from Princeton.
He taught at Harvard from 1956 until 1970, and
was chair of the philosophy department for
seven years. He then taught at UCLA until retir
ing in 1991.
Mr. Albritton has been praised for the breadth
and depth of his philosophical interests, which
included ancient philosophy, philosophy of
mind, free will, skepticism, metaphysics, and
the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. At St. John’s,
his senior thesis defended lyric poetry from log
ical positivism. Although he did not publish
much, he was nevertheless widely known and
admired in the academic world. A colleague at
UCLA, Gavin Lawrence, wrote in an obituary,
“Rogers had the finest philosophical mind I
have ever encountered. He never rushed to a
facile answer and was a wonderful sounding
board.” Mr. Albritton was awarded the Alumni
Association Award of Merit in 1995. He is sur
vived by his sister, Heloise Frame.
Paul Krol
Paul G. Krol (A76) died in May. He was a loved
and respected international businessman. He
was fluent in German and Polish and spoke
some Spanish, Korean, and Japanese. He was
financially responsible for the building of the
Southwest CARE Medical Center in Santa Fe.
Paul was a computer engineer who published
the book ORC AD Capture, a text used to teach
the teachers in that industry. He also wrote
many poems and short stories.
Paul spent half of his hfe volunteering and giv
ing to others. After being diagnosed with a ter
minal illness, he requested permission from
Catholic schools in New Mexico to talk to stu
dents about death and dying. His talks were so
successful they have been published in a book.
Although he was only 47 years of age, he
affected so many people in the world in such a
positive way, that I have no doubt there is a
“new star” in Heaven.
—submitted by Ron Moar
H. Ralph Lewis
H. Ralph Lewis, a former tutor in Santa Fe, died
in March in Hanover, N.H. Born in Chicago, he
was a physicist who studied at the University of
Chicago, the University of Illinois, and the Uni
versity of Heidelberg. In 1963 he joined the staff
at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he
worked on the controUed thermonuclear fusion
project. He taught at St. John’s and then at Dart
mouth, where he was on the physics faculty.
Mr. Lewis is survived by his wife, Renate; two
daughters, and a sister.
Admiral Robert Long
Adm. Robert Long, commander in chief of U.S.
military forces in the Pacific and a former mem
ber of the Board of Visitors and Governors, died
June 28 at the National Naval Medical Center in
Bethesda. He was 82 and lived in Annapolis.
Born in Kansas City, Mo., Robert Lyman John
Long graduated in 1943 from the U.S. Naval
Academy. He served during World War II in the
Pacific. In 1972, Adm. Long was named com
mander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet Submarine
Force and vice chief of naval operations. He saw
combat in the Vietnam War. He headed the
American military forces in the Pacific from
1979 to 1983, when he retired. Soon after retir
ing, he was caUed to assist President Ronald
Reagan and Defense Secretary Caspar Wein
berger, who asked him to lead the commission
continued on p.43
{The Colleges;. John’s College ■ Summeraooi }
�{CampusLife}
4^
THE TWENTY YEARS’ WAR
Johnnies reclaim the Annapolis Cup, brinp^ing the croquet series to i6 and4.
BY Sus3AN
Borden
(A87)
he opening shots of the St. John’s-Naval After Heyburn returned to campus, he
remembered that several students had been
Academy croquet series have long been playing croquet and that they were pretty
the subject of speculation and rumor. good, so he decided to challenge the acade
my. “My main aim was to get the two groups
Some say the first match was the result of of students together and my hope is that the
a barroom bet. Others say it was a last- match is still a way to foster better relations
between the two schools,” he says.
minute substitute for a barroom brawl. And so it has happened. The spirit of the
has remained,
The truth, says Kevin Heyburn (SF86), wasmatch
much
more more or less, one of
peaceful camaraderie. The team uniforms
simple-and peaceful.
(footloose and fanciful for the Johnnies,
T
campy-casual for the Mids) bespeak a play
ful rivalry, not war games. The crowd’s
attention is on picnicking, not the score
board. And the goodwill that the opponents
display after each match is no clenchedteeth affair, but rather a hearty handshake
for a job well done.
At this year’s match (in April), however,
there was just the hint of a martial edge to
the Johnnies’ attitude. The Middies had
won last year’s match, breaking a nine-year
St. John’s winning streak. An article in the
Washington Post quoted senior Louis
Kovacs announcing before the match, “I’m
out for blood. I’m out to hurt people and
humiliate them.”
Newly inaugurated Santa Fe president
John Balkcom hit out the opening ball. Next
the freshman chorus, under the direction of
tutor Tom May, in an apparent welcome to
our comrades-in-croquet, launched into a
stirring rendition of the Navy Hymn:
Eternal Father, strong to save.
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave.
The
few, the proud, the victorious: the
aooa sjc
team.
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
It was 1981 and Heyburn, then a freshman
in Annapolis, was curious about the Naval
Academy. He and a friend went to the acad
emy’s pep rally for the Army-Navy game.
On the way back to St. John’s, they found
themselves walking behind the Comman
dant of the academy. “Being a bold fresh
man, I started to talk with him,” Heyburn
recalls. “I told him that in the old days, St.
John’s had quite an athletic program and
would often beat Navy at sports like foot
ball and lacrosse. The Commandant said
that now there was no sport where the St.
John’s students could beat Navy.”
{The College ■ St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
Its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea.
As the chorus sang the next two verses
(penned by Tanya Hadlock Piltz, A05), their
loyalties became clear:
�{Campus Life}
Oh Johnnies who doplay
croquet.
43
greeting, offering its now-traditional menu of cucumber sand
wiches, college-logo chocolates,
and champagne. Tote bags with an
image of a Greek-style statue play
ing croquet on front campus wear
ing nothing but Birkenstocks and
a fig leaf were prized souvenir
giveaways.
The games ended just before
5:00 and the alumni office packed
up its champagne and chocolates
at 6:00. But the crowds, enjoying
the spirit of croquet and the thrill
of victory, lingered on the lawn
until dark.
Congratulations go to Imperial
Wicket Jon Polk, next year’s
Wicket Ben Porter, and team
members Lucas Ford, Nick Whit
tier, Mike Maguire, Jon Cooper,
Lou Kovacs, Tom Juskevich, Peter
Speers, and Terry Duvall. >
Protect our honor on this day.
Our battle cry: Let Middies kneel!
To them theform ofGood reveal.
Oh hear us when we boldly say
Defeat the Middies at croquet!
Oh ye who books do seldom read
Your unexamined lives concede
Beware each Middy girl and boy;
We are the Danaans to your Troy!
Oh hear us when we boldly say
Defeat the Middies at croquet!
The Johnnies on the field pro
ceeded to answer the pleas of the
singers, shutting out the Middies
5-0 before a crowd of over 1000,
including more than 300 alumni.
Throughout the day the alumni
tent was a locus of meeting and
{Obituaries}
continuedfrom p.41
to investigate the bombing of the marine bar
racks in Beirut, Lebanon. The commission
looked into security lapses in its fact-finding
mission on the incident, in which a terrorist
drove a truck laden with explosives into the
barracks, killing 241 marines.
He served on the St. John’s Board from 1986
to 1992. Later, he maintained his ties to the col
lege by encouraging the croquet rivalry between
St. John’s students and the residents of the
retirement community of Ginger Cove, where
he served as chair of the community associa
tion.
He is survived by his wife, Sara, and his three
sons, Charles, William, and Robert.
Roberts. Parr
Robert E. Parr, a former tutor in Santa Fe, died
Sept. II, 2001 in Ada, Oklahoma. He was 77.
Mr. Parr taught music at St. John’s and was a
life-long musician and active in theater. Born in
Norman, Oklahoma, he graduated from the
University of Oklahoma. During World War II
he served in the military in Europe. After the
war, he studied at Yale with German composer
Paul Hindemith, then moved to San Francisco,
where he received a master’s degree in composi
tion from the University of California, Berkeley.
He taught at Candell Conservatory and at pri
vate schools in New Mexico and St. Louis, in
addition to St. John’s. He also ran a wheat farm
in Oklahoma, raised Arabians, and enjoyed his
involvement with puppet opera. Mr. Parr is sur
vived by his lifemate, Dianne Stowers.
Charles Wallace
Charles “Charlie” Wallace, the superintendent
of buildings and grounds for the Annapolis cam
pus for many years, died in April. Mr.
Wallace was born in Baltimore and served in the
U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. He
worked as a construction superintendent for
Dunton, Inc. for 20 years, building many public
schools in Maryland. He retired from his job at
St. John’s in 1998.
Surviving are his wife, Emily; two sons,
Charles and William; one daughter, Lisa
Delasko; a sister, and six grandchildren.
John Wirth
A long-time Board member of St. John’s Col
lege, John Wirth passed away on June 20.
He was 66.
Mr. Wirth and his wife, Nancy Meem Wirth,
were active members of the college for many
years. Beginning with the donation by Nancy’s
parents. Faith and John Gaw Meem, of the land
for the Santa Fe campus and continuing into the
present with their involvement on the faculty
housing project, their dedication to the mission
of St. John’s has always been exemplary. Mr.
{The College- St. John’s College - Summer 2002 }
Wirth served as vice chairman of the Board of
Visitors and Governors, and worked on the Cali
fornia property project.
Mr. Wirth was born in Dawson, New Mexico
in 1936. He graduated from Harvard University
in 1958 and received his doctorate in Latin
American History in 1967 from Stanford Univer
sity. He served in the army in 1958-59. He was
the recipient of numerous awards, prizes, and
fellowships related to his expertise in Latin
American history. He commuted weekly to
teach undergraduate courses in contemporary
Brazilian history, environmental history, and
Canadian history at Stanford University where
he held the Gildred Chair of History. He retired
from Stanford in June.
He founded and was president of the North
American Institute, based in Santa Fe. The tri
national organization is dedicated to better rela
tions between Mexico, Canada, and the United
States. A prolific writer, his latest book is
Smelter Smoke in North America: The Politics of
Transborder Pollution. He recently completed a
history of the Los Alamos Ranch School, which
wiU be published shortly by the University of
New Mexico Press.
He is survived by his wife, Nancy Meem
Wirth; sons, Peter, Tim and Nicholas; and four
grandchildren.
�44
{Alumni Association News}
Letter from
THE Alumni
Association
Dear Johnnies,
What does it mean to “come home?” For
most colleges and universities. Homecom
ing means foothall, old haunts, a few old
friends, and lots of people you hardly
rememhered the day after graduation. At
St. John’s, Homecoming is some of those
things, and many more.
It might mean coming hack to a place that
smells and looks and feels not so different
from when you left it. Homecoming might
also mean visiting a place you’ve never
been. If you spent your college years in
Santa Fe, you might just as well enjoy
Homecoming on the water and in the midst
of colonial red brick in Annapolis. If
Annapolis was the locus of your personal
memories, you might also come home to
the wonderful mountains and desert sun
sets of Santa Fe. The places, though both
beautiful and significant, are not the
essence of Homecoming for Johnnies.
Yes, you’ll see old friends, especially if
you choose a Homecoming for one of your
class’s special five-year reunions. But
even if you come when other classes are
having their reunions, you will still see old
friends-tutors, staff, members of classes
before and after yours. The community on
each campus is surprisingly constant with
the familiar names and faces scattered
among the new ones. Chances are that
you’ll also meet new “old friends,” includ
ing many who are familiar because they
shared the experience of reading and talk
ing about the same books in the same ways
that you did. Everytime I return-whether
to Santa Fe or Annapolis-I discover inter
esting and stimulating people whose his
tory makes them part of an intellectual
and institutional family. The family
resemblance is striking, regardless of
when or where or for how long they lived
in the Program.
The Homecoming Dinner last October
in Annapolis was an excellent example for
me of the cross-generational nature of the
Johnnie experience. According to tradi
tion, after dinner is served and awards are
presented, each reunion class gives a toast.
Sometimes the toasts are funny and some
times they are poignant, and last year was
no exception on this count. It was an excep
tion, however, because all of the toasts
revolved around a theme very near to each
of us on that evening, just three weeks after
September ii. Each class toast reflected, as
only Johnnies can, on the meaning of the
college in the wake of our national trauma.
Classes from the ’40s remembered the dis
ruption of their lives during World War II.
Classes of the ’50s talked about what it
meant when women entered the campus as
fellow students. The ’60s reflected on a
rediscovery of patriotism that had not been
part of their early engagement with the
world. The ’70s talked of Vietnam and the
dissention that war introduced to personal
and social self-knowledge. Classes of the
’80s and ’90s opened our eyes to a genera
tion that approaches self and institution
with confidence and assumed security.
Together, the toasts framed a social history
of America from the point of view of
thoughtful and admirable individuals. For
me, it was a touching and powerful mes
sage about my self, my community, and my
nation
But most of all, for me. Homecoming is
coming home to the books. There is always
a formal time when alumni and guests
meet in official seminars to inquire togeth
er as we did in the old days. Sometimes the
books are different, and usually the tutors
and students are different, but always the
experience is the same. I come to the table
with certainties and questions and leave
with fewer certainties and more questions.
My real measure of a good seminar is
whether it inspires me to read the text
again. Seldom does a seminar fail to meet
this expectation. Just like our student
{The Colleges?. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Whether from Annapolis or Santa Fe, under
graduate or Graduate Institute, Old Program
or New, graduated or not, all alumni have
automatic membership in the St. John’s Col
lege Alumni Association. The Alumni Associa
tion is an independent organization, with a
Board of Directors elected by and from the
alumni body. The Board meets four times a
year, twice on each campus, to plan programs
and coordinate the affairs of the Association.
This newsletter within The College magazine
is sponsored by the Alumni Association and
communicates Alumni Association news and
events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary -Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-tke-Word-Out Action Team ChairLinda Stabler-Talty (SFGI76)
Web site - www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Mailing address - Alumni Association, St.
John’s College, Box aSoo, Annapolis, MD
21404 or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe,
NM 87505-4599.
days, however, coming home to the books
is not restricted to the time around the
table. Informal conversations over food,
drink, or dance remind me of the wellgrounded conversations of my student
days. Themes emerge and common refer
ents are invoked. The conversations are
decidedly different from those I have dayto-day, and they feed my curiosity and my
ever-developing view of the world and
myself.
Homecoming is an opportunity to revisit
whatever lives in your memory of your days
at St. John’s. It is also an invitation to
reflect on current aspirations and activities
in the context of personal, institutional,
and intellectual history. I hope that you will
plan to join the next Homecoming party,
and I hope you find, as I have, that coming
home is a richly varied experience that
transforms memories of the past into reali
ty of today and hopes for tomorrow. See
you there!
For the past, the present, and the future,
Glenda Eoyang
President
St. John’s College Alumni Association
�{AlUMNiAsSOCIATIOnNeWS}
As will not surprise any Johnnie, our
progress could be measured more in the
improvement of our questions, or in the
introduction of new ones, than in reaching
final answers.
On one conclusion there did seem to be a
consensus: the efforts of Aristotle, Hegel
and Nietzsche to capture the essence of
tragedy pale in comparison to the real
thing. The profundity and variety of the dra
matic experience exceed their descriptions,
and analysis of it is like trying to “catch
lightning in a bottle.” ♦
Report From The
Hinterlands
What the Minneapolis/St.
Paul Alumni Chapter Has
Been Up To For the Last
Few Years
The Minneapolis/St. Paul chapter of the
Alumni Association has recently completed
its second set of readings and seminars
organized on a theme. Politics was our first
theme. Tragedy our second. Each extended
over a year. Prior to that, for over 20 years,
we had read books more or less at random;
and, although there were some memorable
seminars during that period, the theme
approach has generally produced more con
tinuity of thought and depth of discussion.
We would recommend the approach to
other chapters.
Our Tragedy list:
• Agammenon, Aeschylus
• Oedipus Rex. Sophocles
• Poetics, Aristotle
• Othello, Shakespeare
• The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche
• Three Sisters, Chekhov
• Bartleby the Scrivner, Melville
• Mourning Becomes Electra, O’Neill
• The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald
• The Tragic Sense ofLife, Unamuno
We were somewhat naive in our choice of
readings. For example, none of us knew
what to expect from Unamuno’s Tragic
Sense of Life, and we were divided after
wards concerning its intrinsic value; but
most agreed that it produced some of the
best discussions. It helped us discuss
Tragedy as Philosophy, not merely as a dra
matic form.
As evidence of the continuity, some of the
same questions persisted throughout the
year. For example:
• What is Tragedy? Is a precise defini
tion possible?
• Are Greek Tragedy and Elizabethan
Tragedy essentially the same or diff
erent? (and the same question when
comparing the plays of Aeschylus,
Sophocles and Euripides).
• The Bacchcie, Euripides
• Is Cosmology an essential ingredient
of Greek Tragedy? Can we ever fully
appreciate Greek Tragedy without
sharing its cosmological view?
• Poetics, Aristotle
• Is Christianity anti-tragic?
• The Orestia, Aeschylus
• On Poetry, Hegel
The list is eccentric and somewhat acciden
tal. We discussed Agammenon twice, once
by itself and once in the context of the
Oresteia. We also read and discussed Aristo
tle’s Poetics twice, once at the beginning
(with the help of Santa Fe tutor Matt Davis)
and once at the end, when we had a “theme
overview” discussion. In the middle, and at
their suggestion, we did Bartleby the
Scrivener with the help of Santa Fe presi
dent John Balkcom and then-vice president
Robert Glick.
45
• What is the “tragic effect”? Does
either Aristotle’s “catharsis of fear
and pity” or Hegel’s “resolution of
substantive values” adequately
describe it?
• Why didn’t the Greeks have an inter
mediate dramatic form, like Tragi
comedy?
• What is the role of Tragedy in Educa
tion? Is it central?
• What is a Tragic Sense of Life? Is it
healthy or unhealthy?
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
Regular contributors to the monthly discus
sions were: Glenda Eoyang (SE76), Judy
Kistler-Robinson (SF77, SGfg), Robert Neal
(Abo), Walter Burk (SFgo), Nick Colten
(Ag?), Garol Freeman (AGIgg), John Hart
nett (SF8g), Graig Lefevre (Ag2), Kait Schott
(SFgi), J. Shipley Newlin (Afi7), Lori
Williamson (Agg), Mike Woolsey (Afig)
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
5O5-=i75-9ora
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin
410-^80-0958
PITTSBURGH
Robert Hazo
412-648-2653
AUSTIN
Jennifer Chenoweth
512-483-0747
PORTLAND
Dale Mortimer
360-882-9058
BALTIMORE
Deborah Cohen
410-472-9158
SACRAMENTO
Helen Hobart
916-452-1082
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
619-423-4972
CHICAGO
Lorna Johnson
773-338-8651
SAN FRANCISCO,
NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Jon Hodapp
831-393-9496
SANTA FE
John Pollak
505-983-2144
SEATTLE
Amina Stickford
206-269-0182
DENVER
Lee Goldstein
720-283-4659
LOS ANGELES
Elizabeth Eastman
562-426-1934
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Garol Freeman
612-822-3216
NEWYORK
Joe Boucher
718-223-1957
NORTH CAROLINA
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
215-465-0244
WASHINGTON DC
Jean Dickason
301-699-6207
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
972-2-6717608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�46
{AlumniAssociationNews}
Election Notices
Election ofAlumni
Representatives to the
St. John's College Board
of Visitors and Governors
In accordance with Article VIII, Section II
of the By-Laws of the St. John’s College
Alumni Association, notice is hereby given
that the following alumni have been nomi
nated by the Alumni Association Board of
Directors for election to the St. John’s Col
lege Board of Visitors and Governors.
Notice is also given that nominations may
be made by petition.
The rules governing submission of nomi
nations bypetition are asfollows:
• Petitions must be signed by at least
fifty members of the Alumni Associa
tion in good standing.
• Nominations must be accompanied by
a biographical sketch of the nominee.
• The consent of all persons nominated
must be obtained.
• The petition must reach the Directors
of Alumni Activities NO LATER THAN
DECMBER 1, 2002.
c/o Alumni Office
St. John’s College
P.O. Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404
Mr. Bienenfeld has worked for Honda for 21
years in a variety of areas in the U.S. as well
as Japan. Mr. Bienenfeld served on the
Alumni Association Board of Directors from
1998, and more recently on the Board of Vis
itors and Governors since July of 2000. He
served as the president of the Los Angeles
Chapter of the Alumni Association in the
early eighties. In addition, Mr. Bienenfeld
helped organize alumni to support the Cam
paign for Our Fourth Century.
Thomas Stern Sl- '6g
Palo Alto, CA
Mr. Stern has been involved with motion pic
ture production since receiving an MA from
Stanford University in r97i. In 1981 he began
his association with Malpaso Productions at
Warner Brothers, Clint Eastwood’s produc
tion company. Mr. Stern works as a lighting
consultant, and has been responsible for the
lighting more than 40 feature-length motion
pictures including “Risky Business”, “Pale
Rider,” “Goonies,” “Bird, The Unforgiven,”
“Space Cowboys,” and “True Crime.”
Steve Thomas SFJ4
New York, NY
Following a few years as a computer opera
tor, Mr. Thomas spent the academic year
1976-77 in graduate school at the University
of Texas at Austin, in the Ancient Philoso
phy program. Remaining in Austin, Texas,
but dropping out of graduate school, he
worked as a computer operator by day and
became active in local and state politics as a
gay activist. In r98o, Mr. Thomas was named
as an at-large alternate delegate to the
National Democratic Convention, which
means that he gets hohday cards from the
White House whenever it is occupied by a
Democrat. He proceeded to attend the Uni
versity of Texas School of Law, initially to
acquire credentials for his political career,
when he discovered an actual interest in the
law. He served on the Texas Law Review
and was a member of Chancellors, which is
the highest honor society based on grades at
the school. He graduated with honors in
1984. He then moved to New York City,
where he has been admitted to the bar since
1985. He worked as an associate at the Wall
Street law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen
and Hamilton from 1985 through 1991, and
since 1991 has been employed by Financial
Security Assurance (a monoline bond insur
ance company), most recently as associate
general counsel. Mr. Thomas has also been
involved since r989 with HIV Law Project,
an organization that provides legal assis
tance and advocacy to low income people
infected with HIV, for most of those years in
If nominations by petition are received,
there will be an election conducted by mail
ballot. If there are no such nominations, the
nominees listed above will be considered
elected. Terms will begin in July of 2003.
Robert Bienenfeld SF’8o
Long Beach, CA
The Senior Manager of Product Planning
for American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Mr.
Bienenfeld is responsible for planning the
vehicle line ups for Acura and Honda cars
and trucks in the U.S. In addition, he is
responsible for the sales and marketing of
electric, natural gas, hybrid and, believe it
or not, fuel cell automobiles. In addition, he
serves on Honda’s Environment Committee
for the Americas, and operates a small ven
ture capital operation for American Honda.
Great
moments in croquet history
(circa 1985): St. John’s teammates (l-r) David Kidd
(A85), Andrew Bi'.ckman( A87), Steven Werlin(A85) and Bryce Jacobsen (class
POSE WITH THE AnNAPOLIS CuP AND MiDDIE RIVALS.
{The College. St. Jo hn’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
of
1942)
�{AlumniAssociationNews}
his current capacity as chair of the Board of
Directors. Since 2000 he has served on the
SJC Alumni Association hoard. Mr. Thomas
is a fanatical opera fan, and is devoted to the
New York Mets. In his spare time he still,
helieve it or not, reads philosophy hooks;
and he still doesn’t understand Plato.
Election ofDirectors of the
St. John A College Alumni
Association
In accordance with Article VII, Sections I
and II of the By-Laws of the St. John’s Col
lege Alumni Association, notice is hereby
given that the following alumni have been
nominated to serve as directors on the St.
John’s College Alumni Association Board of
Directors.
Notice is also given that nominations for
the positions as officers and directors of the
Association may be made by petition.
The rules governing submission of nomi
nations bypetition are asfollows:
• Petitions must be signed by at least
thirty members of the Alumni Associa
tion in good standing.
• Petitions must be presented to the
Secretary of the Alumni Association
prior to the Annual Meeting at which
the election is to be held. Petitions
should be sent to Barbara Lauer, c/o
Alumni Office, St. John’s College,
P.O. Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404.
• The election will be held at the Annual
Meeting on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 1:45
p.m. in Annapolis.
• The candidates for Directors receiving
the highest number of votes for those
offices shall be declared elected.
Terms will begin on January i, 2002.
Mark Middlebrook A ’8g
Oakland, CA
Mr. Middlebrook currently is testing the
truth of the well-worn dictum “in vino veritas,” as well as his hopeful corollary “in
vino pecunia.” He has worked in the wine
industry in Oakland, California, for a year.
As he waits for both truth and money to flow
from oenophilic endeavors, he continues
his mercenary masquerade as a computer
consultant. In addition, he teaches litera
ture and philosophy seminars at St. Mary’s
College of California. When he isn’t too
busy juggling three jobs, he enjoys playing
flamenco guitar and oud.
Jonathan Sackson A ’6g
Miami, Florida
MBA in Finance, Wharton, 1982. Mr. Sackson worked in various controller and finance
positions at Ryder System (1982-1989) and
served as Vice President and Controller of
the Bekins Corporation (1982-1992). Since
1992, he has been an investment advisor to
private and institutional clients in Miami,
Florida. He is currently Senior Vice Presi
dent at UBS PaineWebber. Mr. Sackson has
served as an at large member of the Alumni
Board since 1999. For many years he has
functioned as liaison to South Florida appli
cants to St. John’s. He was also Class Chair
for the Campaign for Our Fourth Century.
C. Frank Davis SFGI’gg
Santa Fe, NM
Mr. Davis has a BA in economics/govern
ment from the University of Texas (1958),
and he completed the Small Company Man
agement Program at the Harvard Graduate
School of Business in 1981. From 1963 to
1969 he was a broker for Bache and Co. in
Corpus Christi, Texas and from 1969 to
1998 served as the Chief Executive Officer
of Whataburger of El Paso, Inc. and Taco
Cabana of El Paso. In El Paso he has served
on the boards of Renaissance 400, the Rad
ford School for Girls, and the Bank of the
West, and has also served on the board of
the Texas Nature Conservancy. He has trav
eled extensively in Africa, Europe, and
Asia, and has participated in several Earth
watch projects in Nepal and Thailand, as
well as flying his own Cessna 185 for Wings
of Hope in Guatemala and Nicaragua, for
Lighthawk, and for local Santa Fe conserva
tion organizations. He volunteers in the
Santa Fe public schools, and has been a
longtime participant in Summer Classics
and Community Seminars at the college.
Gary Edwards Sk ’-g
Arlington, VA
Surgical oncology physician assistant,
Washington Cancer Institute, Washington
Hospital Center, 1995 to present. Surgical
physician assistant, Sibley Memorial Hos
{The College ■ St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
47
pital, Washington, D.C. 1990-1995. B.S.
Physician Assistant program. The George
Washington University 1990. Medical
transcriptionist. The Neurology Center,
Washington, D.C. 1984-1990. Customer
service representative, Tulsa Oklahoma
1981-1984. Reporter KLMN television,
Fayetteville, Arkansas 1980-1981. Editorial
Assistant, National Review magazine,
summer 1979. Participated in class fundraising efforts Campaign for Our Fourth
Century. Co-class leader Philanthropia
1999. Appointed interim member SJC
Alumni Board member 3/02.
Joanne Murray, A ’^o
Pittsburgh, PA
Ms. Murray took her PhD in solid state
physics at the University of Maryland and
gradually slid into a profession in metallur
gy at the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (1977-1986) and then Alcoa
Technical Center. Although she is a con
firmed theorist, she also takes great pleas
ure in donning steel-toed shoes and hard
hat and heading out to the plant floor where
aluminum is being melted, cast, and rolled.
At Alcoa, she is leader of the Alcoa Techni
cal Center Women’s Network and presi
dent-elect of Sigma Xi, the Scientific
Research Society. She maintains ties with
the college through local alumni seminars,
the summer sessions in Santa Fe, and the
online Johnny-list.
Proposed Amendments to the St. John’s
College Alumni Association By-Laws_____
In accordance with Article XIII Section i of
The St. John’s College Alumni Association
By-Laws (as amended 9/29/01), notice is
hereby given that certain proposed amend
ments to the by-laws (to Article III, Section
III; Article IV, Sections II, II a, II b, II d, II
e, II g, II i, VI; Article V; Article VII, Sec
tion I; Article VIII, Seciton V; Article X;
and Aritcle XIV) will be considered by the
membership of the Association and
brought to a vote at the Annual Meeting,
1:45pm, Saturday, October 5, 2002, in the
Conversation Room in Annapolis. These
proposed amendments are posted at
http://www. sjca. edu/aassoc/main.phtml
(see navigation sidebar). Call the Alumni
Office in Annapolis (410-626-2531) if you
prefer to receive a copy via mail or fax.
�48
{St. John’s Forever}
ack Landau (top, class of ’44) and picking them up. The ones that stick
James Waranch (class of ’43) together, we put in the same room.”
Seriously, though, Ranson’s method is
undoubtedly had a memorable year
rooming together. But not every rather more effective. The roommate form
one ends up a winner in the room asks a series of questions relating to smoking
mate lottery. Luckily, the odds are practices, sleeping habits, noise tolerance,
and inclination towards neatness or slobbery.
good for freshmen arriving this fall. Andrew
Ranson, director of Student Services on the Ranson enters the answers into a computer
Annapolis campus, puts a great deal of for an initial match-up. Then, he looks at
thought into the roommates he matches: answers to a more general question asking if
“We have a roommate questionnaire we there’s anything else he should know about
send out,” he says. “When they all come the respondent’s ideal roommate. “I get the
back we throw them on the floor and start best and easiest matches from that ques
J
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
tion,” says Ranson. “When two people men
tion they play instruments, say that they’re
rehgious, talk about their interest in travel,
or note that they’re vegans, we put them
together and it usually works out well.”
Some answers to the “anything else”
question, he says, are so vague and subjec
tive as to be unhelpful. Incoming freshmen
might say they want a cool roommate or a
laid back room-mate, or someone who’s not
a moron. “We took the moron question off
the questionnaire a couple of years ago,”
Ranson says.
�{Alumni Events Calendar}
Homecoming aooa—Annapolis
Friday, October 4—Sunday, October 6
ilieanion Glasses: 193?, 194a, 1947, i
1957,1962,1967,197a, 1977,198a, 1987,
199a, and 1997
■■ ■:
Homecoming Highlights
Friday, October 4
by Eva Brann
(HA89): “The Empires of the Sun and
the West”
Career Panel
Wine and Cheese with the Class of
2003 in the Dining Hall
.Rock Party in the Boathouse
■ • • g'
Saturday, October 5
PPaturday Morning Seminars
‘ Homecoming Picnic and Reunion
Class Luncheons
• Mitchell Gallery Tour;” The Sweet
Uses of Adversity: Images of the Bibli
cal Job”
*•---------
• Classes of 87 and 88 Pick-Up Basketball
Extravaganza (all alumni are invited)
• Freshman Chorus Revisited led by Tom
May
Philanthropia, the alumni
A COCKTAIL PARTY AT THE BrOWN PaLACE HoTEL IN DeNVER IN JUNE. ThIS WAS THE GROUP’s SEC
OND
event; the first took place last
(piCTUED above). Events Chair
ROLE OF Philanthropia and its
porting
• Alumni-Student Soccer Classic
• Bookstore Autograph Party
• Tour of the Renovated Mellon Hall
• Cocktail Party in the Great Hall and
McDowell Classrooms
group that works on fundraising for the college, sponsored
pated
THE
IN the
college.
for
December
in
New York City. Stef Takacs, A89
Philanthropia,
familiarized those gathered with the
goal of informing alumni about the importance of sup
The Denver/Boulder chapter of
event, with
the
Alumni Association partici
Lee Goldstein, Liz Jenny, and Craig Sirkin choosing the ele-
GANT LOCATION. NoT THAT JoHNNIES WOULD NEED THE PERFECT SETTING FOR CONVERSATION TO
TAKE PLACE....
John Balkcom (SFGI 00),
president of the
Santa Fe
campus, initiated a lively discus-
SION AMONG ALMOST 50 ALUMNI ABOUT THE CURRENT STATE OF THE COLLEGE. “ThIS IS A GREAT
TIME TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH St. JoHn’s COLLEGE,” HE SAID. “ENROLLMENT IS STRONG; WE ARE
DOING FINE FINANCIALLY—ALTHOUGH WE COULD DO BETTER. ThE QUALITY OF CONVERSATION IN
• Homecoming Banquet: Candace
Brightman (A67) and Howard Zeiderman (A67) will receive the Alumni
Association Award of Merit; John
Sarkissian, Robert Williamson, and Al
Toft will be recognized as new Hon
orary Alumni
• Waltz Party in the Great Hall
THE CLASSROOM IS SUPERB. WHENEVER I LOSE SIGHT OF WHAT WE ARE HERE TO DO I GO SIT IN
THE DINING HALL AND A HALF-DOZEN TO TWO DOZEN STUDENTS SIT DOWN WITH ME. I DON’t KNOW
WHAT YOUR CONVERSATIONS WERE LIKE WHEN YOU WERE THAT AGE, BUT WHEN I WAS 18 YEARS
OLD MINE WERE NOTHING LIKE THESE. ThOSE CONVERSATIONS RENEW MY INSPIRATION AND
SENSE OF COMMITMENT TO WHAT WE DO AS AN INSTITUTION.”
Topics ranged from what the
college is doing to become more involved with the local
COMMUNITY IN SaNTA Fe TO HOW THE COLLEGE HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS TO THE POSSIBILITY
OF INCLUDING MORE WOMEN AUTHORS ON THE READING LIST.
For MORE INFORMATION ON PHILANTHROPIA AND UPCOMING PHILANTHROPIA EVENTS CALL OR
EMAIL Maggie Griffin
TY IN Santa Fe
at
in
Annapolis
at
410-626-2534,
505-984-6099, groherty@aol.com.
Sunday, October 6
uflch at the President’s
ouse
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
m-griffin@sjca.edu or
Ginger Roher-
�STJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
Published by the
Communications Office
Box aSoo
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
DAVID TROZZO
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
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<em>The College </em>(2001-2017)
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The St. John's College Communications Office published <em>The College </em>magazine for alumni. It began publication in 2001, continuing the <em>St. John's Reporter</em>, and ceased with the Fall 2017 issue.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=56">Items in The College (2001-2017) Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
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48
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The College, Summer 2002
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Volume 28, Issue 3 of The College Magazine. Published Summer 2002.
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St. John's College
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St. John's College
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2002
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The College Vol. 28, Issue 3 Summer 2002
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Goyette, Barbara (editor)
Borden, Sus3en (managing editor)
Ducker, Susanne (art editor)
Mulry, Laura J. (Santa Fe editor)
Johnson, David
Morrison, Marissa
van Doren, John
Eoyang, Glenda H.
The College
-
https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/57b157947f831f4d09eab130ae796d52.pdf
194fa35ced5525e3ce56b35e980b9ede
PDF Text
Text
�STJOHN’S
College
On Eliot
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
" ith his slicked back hair, prissy round glasses, and exact gray
W
suit, T.S. Eliot looked the part he played as a mid-level worker
in Lloyds Bank of London. In his spare time, he wrote The
Waste
Land,
a hallmark
that in
framed
theSt.attitudes
of the
Thomas
Stearns
Eliotpoem
was born
1888 in
Louis. His
post-Great WarBrick
generation.
father was president of the Hydraulic-Press
Company, his mother was an amateur poet
who volunteered as a social worker. Eliot, the last of seven children, was sickly and his moth
er and older sisters doted on him. The family’s origins were strongly in Unitarian New Eng
land, and Eliot, after a prep school upbringing in St. Louis and Boston, followed the family
tradition and went to Harvard. Not a stellar student, he nonetheless completed his BA in
three years and stayed a fourth to get his master’s.
He traveled to Paris, worked on some poems (one of which became “The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock’’—completed when Eliot was 21), and then returned to Harvard to begin
work on a PhD. His circle of friends and mentors included George Santayana, William
James, Bertrand Russell, and Josiah Royce. Eliot grew more deeply interested in philosophy,
especially the workof F.H. Bradley, and was occupied by questions of the psychology of con
sciousness. In 1914 he studied in Germany, then moved on to Oxl()rd. In England, he
dropped his usual reserve long enough to become infatuated with Vivian Haigh-Wood, beau
tiful but emotionally disturbed. Much to his parents’ dismay, he married her and they moved
into Bertrand Russell’s apartment. Eliot supported himself by catch-as-catch-can teaching
gigs and writing assignments with literary magazines.
Because he was fluent in several languages, Eliot landed a steady job in the foreign section
of Lloyds Bank. He began to produce poetry more prolifically, and to be published and
admired. When in his late 30s, Eliot joined the Ghurch of England and also became a British
citizen, both iconoclastic decisions that reflected his philosophical and intellectual develop
ment as “a classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and anglo-catholic in religion.”
Although poetry never paid a living wage, Eliot was able to drop the bank job in favor of pub
lishing once he became better established as an editor and critic.
This issue of the magazine contains two brief references to Eliot’s poems; “April is the
crudest month,” the beginning of The Waste Land, is cited in a story about how the sea
son of winter impacts our psychology; and Eva Brann’s review of The Intellectual Life of
the British Working Classes includes a reference to British workers’ recognition of but
slight distaste for modernists like Eliot. T.S. Eliot is an amalgam of traditional and mod
The College (usps 018-750)
is published four times a year by
St. John’s College, Annapolis, md
and Santa Fe, nm.
Known office of publication;
Public Relations Office
St. John’s College
Box 3800
Annapolis, md 31404-3800
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, md
Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Public Relations
Office, St. John’s College,
Box 3800, Annapolis, md
31404-3800.
postmaster:
Annapolis
410-395-5554
b-goyette@sjca.edu
Barbara Goyette, editor
Sus3an Borden, managing editor
Susanne Ducker,
graphic designer
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Kathryn Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu
ern; his ideas have their basis in mythology, classical thought, established religion; but
Laura J. Mulry, Santa Fe editor
the expression of those ideas and the rhythms of his poetry are so innovative as to set a
Advisory Board
style that has come to define modernity. Eliot demonstrates for us the power of poetic
language. Somehow, the words and lines and rhythms are inside us, and certain phrases
become part of the way we think of things. As he said; “[Poetry] may make us ... a little
more aware of the deeper, unnamed feelings which form the substratum of our being, to
which we rarely penetrate; for our lives are mostly a constant evasion of ourselves, and
an evasion of the visible and sensible world.”
Alexis Brown
Grant Franks
David Levine
Margaret Odell
John Rankin
Ginger Roherty
Tahmina Shalizi
Mark St. John
-BG
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�{Contents}
PAGE
I2l
DEPARTMENTS
Here Comes the Sun
2 FROM THE BELL TOWERS
Alumni discuss how the seasons affect
our psychology-and why some are glad
to see April while others regret the end
of ice and snow.
PAGE
The Roots of
OUR Program
PAGE I a
Eva Brann reviews a hook about the
intellectual life of British workers, who
gravitated to the books that eventually
found their way onto the St. John’s
reading list.
PAGE
21 HISTORY
About John McDowell, St. John’s first
president
l8
23 ALUMNI NOTES
ALUMNI PROFILES
24 Edith Updike (A86) - Business writer and
Japan hand
28 Mark Adler (A60) - Harpsichord maker
Santa Fe tutor Linda Weiner spent a
summer working with Mexicans who
are trying to bring new life to their
cultural traditions.
30 Melissa Skilondz (SF78) - A life in improv
32 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS
Networking for careers, discussing an
Eastern Classic in L.A.
3'4'
36 BIBLIOFILE
Questioning History
Short reviews of books by alumni
An alumna’s quest to understand her
parents’ work on the Manhattan Project.
PAGE
37 OBITUARIES
3P
Myths About
Senior Essays
40 ST. JOHN’S FOREVER
PAGE 38
IO
Why Moby Dick was taken off the
reading list, and which alumni tutors
wrote the shortest essays.
The inauguration of John Balkcom
Mellon Hall gets an update
Summer Classics slate
Running in the Olympic relay
Santa Fe astronomy
Alumni survey results
An Annapolis lynching remembered
Philanthropia stages New York event
Tutor chess champ
Liberty Bell repairs
New art for Meem Library
IO LETTERS
Turning Ideas
INTO Action
PAGE
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
ON THE COVER
T.S. Eliot
Illustration by DavidJohnson
�<2
{From
the
Bell Towers}
Inviting Conversations
The inauguration ofJohn E. Balkcom
aspresident in Santa Fe.
Amid the pomp and ceremony
of his inauguration as president
of the Santa Fe campus, John
Balkcom raised his arm toward
the audience and asked for a
show of hands from undergrad
uates and GIs. “Just for the
sake of clarity,” he said, point
ing toward the students, “this
is why we’re here. It’s certainly
why I’m here for this inaugura
tion.” That simple gesture symholized the new president’s
clarity of focus, his spontane
ity, his friendly regard, and his
seriousness of purpose.
More than 500 students,
alumni, faculty. Board memhers, Annapolis colleagues, and
friends from Santa Fe gathered
in the new Student Activities
Center on January a6 to wel
come John E. Balkcom as presi
dent. Although he had heen on
the job since November of
aooo, and the more elaborate
inauguration scheduled for
September 14 of aooi was can
celled, the ceremony brought a
fresh sense of beginnings to the
western campus.
The theme chosen for the
event-which stretched over a
weekend-was “Inviting Con
versations.” The inauguration’s
planners wanted it to be an
open invitation to all to partici
pate in the college’s unique
form of education. Representa
tives from the many spheres
within which St. John’s oper
ates came: students, faculty,
and staff of the college from
both campuses; representatives
of the city of Santa Fe; the
Alumni Association; the stu
dent government; and the
Board of Visitors and Gover
nors. Events included seminars
for students, alumni, and Board
members on “As You Like It”
(Friday afternoon); an Inaugur
al Dinner for students, faculty,
staff, and visitors; the inaugu
ral ceremony on Saturday at 2
p.m.; a reception; and an Inau
gural Ball Saturday night.
For John Balkcom, becoming
president of St. John’s is an
inauguration into a different
life. After graduating from
Princeton and earning an MBA
from the University of Chicago,
he spent 25 years as a manage
ment consultant, advising
organizations on how to grow,
measure, reward, and govern
talented people. When he visit
ed St. John’s in Santa Fe with
his daughter, who was looking
A CROWD OF MORE THAN 5OO WATCHED THE INAUGURATION IN THE NEW
Student Activities Center.
John Balkcom: From manage
ment consultant to summer
GRADUATE STUDENT TO COLLEGE
PRESIDENT.
at colleges, he decided he want
ed to find out more about the
college. He spent several vaca
tions in the Summer Classics
program, became a member of
the Board of Visitors and Gov
ernors, then enrolled in the
Graduate Institute. He received
his MA in liberal arts in 2000.
The inaugural ceremony
included speeches from repre
sentatives of all the groups
important to the college, and as
such served as a source of
unity.
John Cornell, a tutor at the
college, said, “It always makes
teachers proud to see one of
their students appointed to
high office...We are sharing the
joy of an old friend who under
stands the transforming power
of a unique institution.” Cor
{The College- St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
nell referred to Balkcom as
someone whose life was gen
uinely changed by the college.
“[He] combines the speculative
powers and easy eloquence of a
senior colleague, with the wild
energy and uninhibited capaci
ty for wonder of our most
youthful, new freshman,” said
Cornell. Annapohs dean Har
vey Flaumenhaft spoke of Balkcom’s “cordial inter-campus
collegiality,” and Graduate
Institute student John Larkin
praised his ability to convey the
essence of the St. John’s experi
ence to those who were new to
it: “I came here with... a cer
tain romantic and musty notion
of reading quaint and curious
volumes of forgotten lore... But
right from the first, Mr. Balk
com told us it was about some
thing else...This is where we
were going to learn about who
we were.”
Two of Balkcom’s fellow
alumni, Glenda Eoyang (SF76),
�{From the Bell Towers}
president of the Alumni Associ
ation, and Chris Nelson (SF70),
president of the Annapolis
campus, spoke of his ability to
bring together disparate ele
ments. “His is the model of the
contemplative-practical life,”
said Eoyang, who added, “He
bridges the chasm between the
Program and the institution.”
Nelson recounted a conversa
tion the two had early in their
acquaintance, when Balkcom
was a new Board member. They
talked about The Aeneid. not
about the Board or the college.
They discussed the rule of law,
the need to be grounded in a
community in order to govern
effectively, the problem with
having a vision of the future in
order to make it a reality. “It
seemed to me that I had met a
man my own age of a similar
professional background who
cared about the books because
they were alive for him-what
they had to say mattered
because they might influence
his life in action.”
That the new president has
made an impression on the stu
dents was clear from the com
ments of Leah Willcox, class of
2003. She described the St.
John’s education as a kind of
unlearning. “This unlearning
is not just for breaking bad high
school habits, nor is it simply a
reversed process like Pene-
Tutor emeritus William Darkey
HOLDS THE ChAIN OF OFFICE.
Students swing at the Inaugural Ball.
lope’s unweaving during the
night of all her day’s work.
Rather, it is a tool that must be
employed within the pro
gram... It would seem, then,
that wherever traditions are
broken, wherever innovation
occurs, unlearning is somehow
present. For this reason it
appears that Mr. Balkcom has
already taken this paradigm of
St. John’s learning to heart.
Regardless of where he ever
actually learned the job of col
lege president, he has certainly
unlearned its vices. Most
importantly, he has unlearned
the commonly practiced notion
that the head of a college
should remain aloof and sev
ered from its student body.”
David Levine (A67), dean in
Santa Fe, spoke about “the
sense of promise and optimism
that comes with new begin
nings.” Gregory Curtis, chair
man of the Board, stressed that
Balkcom’s presidency made
him “the most hopeful for the
future of this campus that I’ve
ever been.” Victoria Mora, a
Santa Fe tutor, seemed to sum
up the opinions of all who
spoke when she said: “I’m con
fident that this former student
and Board member, and now
leader of our fine staff, has not
come to us either unprepared
or unwilling to learn-and this
bodes well for St. John’s, which
lives on the funny juxtaposition
of knowledge and naivete,
experience and experimentalism, in its radical attempt to
ground individual perspective
through the hard work of coop
erative insight.”
Representatives of the differ
ent communities of St. John’s
participated in an unusual part
of the ceremony, the “Chain of
the Insignia of the Office of the
President.” The chain of office
is a cast sterling silver medal
lion suspended from a silver
chain of open books. It was cre
ated by Annapolis silversmith
Judson Martin and first used at
the inauguration of Edwin
Delattre as president in 1980.
In the ceremony, the chain is
passed from participant to par
ticipant, signifying the unifica
tion of the diverse communities
under the new president’s lead
ership.
In his inauguration speech,
Balkcom outlined his vision for
St. John’s, and asked all those
who participated in the day’s
ceremonies to “help shape the
future of this institution.” He
began by offering a view of the
program that was couched in
terms other than are usually
used. Reading a poem called
{The College -Sf. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
3
“The Mouse and the Camel” by
the Persian poet Rumi, Balk
com made the point that “our
conversations have as much to
do with listening as with speak
ing.” A mouse holding the lead
rope of a camel in imitation of
the camel drivers is stumped
when he comes to a great river.
The camel says, “Maybe you
shouldn’t be leading a camel.
Stay with those like yourself. A
mouse has nothing to say to a
camel.” He then lets the mouse
ride across the river on his
back, and the poem continues,
“you are not a prophet, but go
humbly on the way of the
prophets, and you can arrive
where they are.”
But Balkcom was not content
to dwell on the philosophical
underpinnings of the program
or on what the college accom
plishes with students, which
can be truly seen by consider
ing the tremendous variety of
career paths in which St. John’s
alumni succeed. He also took
care to outline some specific
areas where improvement is
needed: providing more time
for faculty to “read, reflect, and
to prepare themselves for our
program; building faculty hous
ing near the campus”; offering
greater financial support to
students (perhaps not to the
extent of his alma mater,
Princeton, which is attempting
to replace all student loans with
outright grants); correcting the
misimpression that the study of
the great books excludes math
ematics and science; and pro
viding “a warm welcome to all
our constituencies-students,
parents, alumni, friends, facul
ty, staff, and neighbors.”
He concluded by thanking all
in attendance for “joining to
celebrate the relationships, the
challenge, and the partnership-both locally and nationally-that is St. John’s College.”
For thefall text ofmany of
the speeches delivered at the
inauguration, see the web site
at WWW. sjcsf edu/comcal/
inauguration, htm.
�4
{From the Bell Towers}
Mellon
Updated
The vertical steel louvers
meant to move with the
progress of the sun never
worked. There was no air con
ditioning in the classrooms,
while it was suh-arctic in the
summer in the auditorium and
Conversation Room. The hall
ways were dreary. The clock in
the physics wing hadn’t worked
since the early 1970s. The slate
workbenches in the biology
and chemistry labs had deterio
rated so much you got brown
stains on your hands if you
touched them. Recently, the
seats in the auditorium had
become so worn that their
springs were popping out. All
these traits characterized Mel
lon Hall, the behemoth class
room building opened in 1959.
Aside from a 1989 revamp of
the Conversation Room and the
addition of the Mitchell Gallery
and administrative wing, Mel
lon remained in its virgin state.
No one’s sure what to call the glass-enclosed seating area being
CONSTRUCTED IN THE
MeLLON COURTYARD.
With the current $12.9 milhon renovation of Mellon,
here’s an update on the above:
One set of the louvers is now
working-thanks to the efforts
of CharUe Berliner (A70), an
Annapolis contractor who has
been fiddling with them; hopes
are that the remainder will be
working by the time the con
struction is complete this
August. A new, state-of-the-art
air conditioning and ventilation
Summer Classics: Books
AND Opera in Santa Fe
Summer Classics, the program
that brings book and opera
lovers from across the country
to the Santa Fe campus, will be
held July 14 through August 2.
This year seminars are sched
uled for both morning and after
noon sessions, with opera and
chamber music in the evenings.
The program is appropriate as
an introduction to the college
and also for alumni and those
who have participated in other
St. John’s outreach programs
like Executive Seminars or
community seminars. For more
information, check the web
site atwww.sjcsf.edu, e-mail
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu, or call
505-984-6104.
Week I, July 14-19
Morning session:
• Aeschylus, Oresteia and
Prometheus Bound. Led
by Sherry Martin and
Judith Adam
• Melville, “Bihy Budd” and
“Piazza Tales.” Led by Jim
Forkin and Tom Scally
• Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.
Led by Eva Brann and
Janet Dougherty
Afternoon session:
• Leonardo da Vinci the
Painter. Led by David Carl
and Stephen Houser Virgil,
• The Aeneid. Led by Michael
Bybee and Gino Thomas
• Wittgenstein, Philosophical
Investigations. Led by Claudia
Honeywell and CalebThompson
SoLARIUM?
CaFE?
system has been installed; it
employs giant ice cube trays
through which warm air circu
lates and gets infused with cool
ness before being pumped to
the far reaches of the building.
The hallways are wide, bright,
and cheerful, with red linoleum
retro-looking floors, light pine
doors and trim, and lots of
lighting. The clock is gone;
either no one could fix it or the
architects decided a clock didn’t
Week II, July 21-2,6
Morning session:
• Opera - Verdi, La Traviata
and Mozart, Clemenza di Tito.
Led by Wilham Fulton
• Shakespeare, Cymbeline and
A Winter’s Tale. Led by
William Alba and Krishnan
Venkatesh
• Virginia Woolf, To the Light
house. Led by Jan Arsenault
and Elizabeth Engle
Afternoon session:
• Euripides'. Five Tragedies.
Led by David Carl and Claudia
Honeywell
• Hans Jonas and the Ethics of
Biotechnology. Led by James
Forkin and David Neidorf
• Locke, Second Treatise of
Government and Rousseau,
Discourse on the Origin of
Inequality. Led by Michael
Rawn and Robert Richardson
{The College. St. lohn’s College . Winter/Spring 2002 }
fit with their concept for the
building. All the laboratory and
project rooms have been reno
vated, with new cabinetry, new
fixtures, and new workspaces.
Seats in the auditorium are
being reupholstered.
And there’s more...An addi
tion on the College Creek side
contains a meeting/seminar
room with teleconferencing
equipment and tutor offices.
The basement has been opened
up by the addition and a new
pottery studio and darkroom
constructed. The hallway
between the lobby and the
music library has been bumped
out into the courtyard; it will be
enclosed with glass and become
a light-filled cafe.
While opinions on Mellon as
an example of architectural sig
nificance vary, students and
tutors seem to like the new
look of the renovation. Alumni,
parents, and friends of the col
lege will be invited on tours of
Mellon in September and at
Homecoming-so they can
judge for themselves.
Week III, July 28-AuGUST a
Morning session:
• Opera - Pushkin’s Onegin
with Tchaikovsky’s opera.
Led by Wilham Fulton and
Robert Ghck
• Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part
II and Henry V. Led by Judith
Adam and Warren Winiarski
• Proust, Swann’s Way. Led by
David Carl and Patricia Locke
Afternoon session:
• Faulkner, Go Down, Moses.
Led by Michael Rawn and
Robert Richardson
• Plato, The Apology, Crito,
and Phaedo. Led by William
Alba and Krishnan Venkatesh
• The Rig Veda. Led by Patricia
Greer and Michael Wolfe
�{From the Bell Towers}
Olympic
Inspiration
This past January, Julie Francisca (SFGI93) had occasion to
learn about the traditions sur
rounding the Olympic torch.
“The Olympic Flame is ignited
by three women during a sacred
ceremony in Olympia, Greece,”
she says. “A single ray of sun
light is caught in a mirror and
the reflection is then magnified
to initiate a spark. Following
the ceremony, a Guardian of
the Flame escorts the flame,
safeguarded in a lantern, to the
Olympic host country and trav
els with it throughout the
Olympic Torch Relay in case
the torch needs to be relit from
the original flame.
“On December 4, 2001 the
Olympic flame arrived in
Atlanta. Muhammad Ali was the
first in the United States to
carry the 2002 Olympic flame.
The relay covered 46 states, 250
cities, and 13,500 miles,” says
Francisca. “On January 14, the
40th day of the Olympic Torch
Relay, the flame had made its
way to Galifornia, where I was
the first to carry it.”
Francisca carried the torch
as an Inspiration Partner. She
had nominated a friend, Mar
sha Gilden, to carry the torch
and Francisca was given a place
in the relay along with her. In
her essay nominating Gilden,
Francisca wrote that her friend,
a teacher, was “dedicated to
bridging diversity whether it be
found in physical challenges,
generation gaps, or ethnic mul
tiplicity.”
The day before her relay leg
in Ghula Vista, Calif., Francis
ca was too excited to get any
rest. “I could no longer pretend
to sleep and finally threw the
covers off at 5 a.m. and began
getting ready to ride the Wild
Wave for the ride of my life! ”
she later wrote. “Even so, I
never slacked on my responsi
5
bilities and paid very close
attention to the ABSOLUTELY
NO HAIRSPRAY rule, which
was repeated several times in
the long list of rules.”
When Francisca arrived at
the relay site, the Guardian of
the Flame was there, ready to
coach her on how to light her
torch from the flame burning
in the 2002 Olympic Cauldron.
“I waved at the few spectators
sprinkled along the path as I
rounded the lake... Just as I
approached the last curve lead
ing to the top of the hill, the
sun broke through the gray
overcast of the cold morning
sky. The crowd caught their
first glimpse of me carrying the
Olympic Torch and went wild! I
had not anticipated how uplift
ing the wave of emotion would
be when I felt the roar of the
crowd break over me, but it was
awesome,” she says.
During the day, Francisca
signed scores of autographs and
was interviewed by a television
reporter. “It was a long, long
interview, which was reduced to
two sentences when it aired,”
she says. “Even so, they were
the most important sentences:
‘It is a thrill, an honor and a
privilege. The flame reminds us
that we are inspirations to one
another.’ ” 4"
Santa Fe
Astronomy
equipment, so that the sky
watch program will not be lim
ited by the busy schedules and
family commitments of faculty.
After a year or two of a success
ful program, the college will be
positioned to plan for an obser
vatory structure.
Presently, the on-campus
skywatches are held on the west
deck of Evans Science Lab, cov
ered last year with walking pads
so that it can be fully used with
out causing roof leaks. With
motivation and leadership, we
shall also be able to conduct
skywatch sessions at the foot of
the Santa Fe Ski Basin as well as
other sites, such as the Abiquiu
area and the Galisteo area. Our
location on campus is imperfect
because of two factors, namely
campus and city lights that are
not dark-sky compliant, and the
air currents to be found at the
foot of our mountains. As we
become more experienced and
skilled, these may become sig
nificant limitations. At present,
we are yet beginners, so they
don’t matter as much as they
might.
At the end of November, the
Santa Fe campus acquired an
eight-inch reflecting telescope
with a sophisticated computer
drive, paid for by the class of
2001. For its size, this tele
scope is as good as it gets, and
should greatly enhance our nas
cent skywatch program. We
also purchased with the same
senior class gift a CCD camera
for electronic image capture, to
be put into use when we have
gained considerable experience
with the new telescope. We
—BY Hans von Briesen,
Director of Laboratories
'Tor its size, this
telescope is as
p^ood as itgets,
and should
greatly enhance
our nascent sky
watch program.''
already have an 8-inch reflector
with a less refined support
structure, and a 3.5-inch Questar telescope augmented by a
heavy-duty camera tripod.
I hope to recruit two or three
highly responsible students to
be stewards of the astronomy
Santa Fe Johnnies can now look at the phenomena described by
Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, thanks to the new
TELESCOPE ON THE ROOF OF ESL.
{The College -John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�6
{From the Bell Towers}
Alumni Opinions Now
Knowledge eor SJC
One of the earhest lessons
freshmen learn at St. John’sheginningwith Plato’s
Gorgias-'xs that opinion is dif
ferent from knowledge. Opin
ion is not rehahle; knowledge,
of course, is; opinion is based
on thought that skims the sur
face of truth. And yet opinions
are not without value. They are
openings to conversation, prel
udes to ideas. Still, a philo
sophical distrust of opinion
made the college think long
and hard about conducting an
opinion survey of alumni.
St. John’s did commission an
opinion survey of its alumni
last spring, and the results
show a strong support of the
college, and in particular of
“The Program”-the idealistic
educational mission statement
that the college curriculum
embodies. The consulting firm
Kane, Parsons & Co. conduct
ed a telephone survey of 600
undergraduate alumni and 150
alumni of the Graduate Insti
tute. The random group of
alumni called represented a
cross-section of decades on
both campuses and was weight
ed toward the ig8os and 1990s,
since 60% of alumni come from
those two decades. The sur
vey’s aim was to assess alumni
attitudes toward the college,
find out what features on the
web might be of interest to
alumni, and assess alumni atti
tudes toward fundraising. Here
are some of the findings:
• 66% of undergrad alumni
and 91% of GI alumni rated their
overall experience at St. John’s
as very positive. a8% of under
grads and 7% of GIs rated their
experience as more positive
than negative. Overall approval
rating: 94% for undergraduates
and 98% for GI alumni.
• When asked to cite two
ways that St. John’s had an
impact of their lives, alumni
focused on the Program. 61%
cited reading and studying the
great books, 49% cited “the St.
John’s approach to learning”
and 37% (52% of GIs) cited
their experiences in tutorials
and seminars. These results are
in contrast to the experiences
that alumni from other liberal
arts colleges usually emphasize-friendships with fellow
The alumni message: The Program brings about
TRANSFORMATION.
intellectual
students and faculty members
(38% at SJG).
• WTien asked if any of their
St. John’s experiences were less
than satisfactory, 56% of under
graduate alumni said yes. (Sur
prisingly, 42% could find noth
ing to complain about!) Of
those who said something was
unsatisfactory, 49% named
career preparation, 39% named
“developing specific skills such
as writing,” and 37% named
“helping one’s emotional
development.”
• 97% of alumni expressed a
high degree of support for the
college and its aims.
• The most requested feature
on a proposed new St. John’s
web site is an online, update
able directory of alumni.
• 65% of undergraduate
alumni say it is very likely they
will give a gift to the college in
the future.
• Alumni support their dona
tions to the college being used
for student financial aid,
“preservation of the Program,”
and bringing tutor salaries up
to par with those at comparable
colleges.
For a summary ofthe report,
interested alumni can contact
the Public Relations office in
Annapolis at 4io-626-253g oremail b-goyette@sjca.edu.
Ugly Moment in History
Between 1891 and 1906, ten lynchings occurred in the state of
Maryland. The last of those, on December 21,1906, was in
Annapolis. A mob of men stormed the jailhouse on Calvert Street
and dragged a black prisoner named Henry Davis, who had been
accused of raping a white woman, to the banks of College Creek.
The mob hung Davis and shot him; one account says that more
than 100 rounds were fired.
Ninety-five years after the horrific lynching, the details of the
crime are coming to light. WTien a group of Annapolitans began to
look into the history of lynching in the city, they questioned the
role of St. John’s in Davis’ death. The legend in the community
was that the lynching had occurred on the college’s back campus.
But newspaper accounts from the time show that the mob took
Davis further upstream-to the end of what is now Clay Street and
was known in the early 1900s as Brick Yard Hill. The Washington
Post reported on December 23,1906 that St. John’s students, can
didates for the Naval Academy, and Annapolis youth were the cul
prits. But the following day, Thoms Fell, the president of the col
lege, denied the reports. He noted that almost all the students
were gone from the college on the night of the attack, since Christ
mas break had begun earlier that week. The paper retracted its
story. Evidence does suggest that the lynchers-who were never
identified-gathered to formulate their plan on the St. John’s cam
pus, either on the far back campus or in Randall Hall.
Nelson Hernandez (A99) is a reporter for the Anne Arundel
bureau of the Washington Post. He began investigating the 1906
lynching when community leaders in Annapolis decided that it was
time to acknowledge this ugly moment in the city’s past. Hernan
dez’s article in the Post (December 20, 2001) laid out the history
of the event and described current efforts to commemorate the
lynching. On the 95th anniversary of the lynching, a group of com
munity leaders gathered in the Brewer Hill Cemetery to dedicate a
plaque in remembrance of Henry Davis. Regardless of Davis’ guilt,
his death was racially motivated, said Carl Snowden, who headed
up the commemoration effort. “That must never happen again,”
said Snowden. “No one believes that is justice.”
{The College-5:. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{From the Bell Towers}
Philanthropia in New York
The music was loud, the food
was tasty, and the drinks were
flowing, but in the end, it was
the conversation that kept New
York Johnnies out late on a
Thursday night in early Decem
ber, Over 50 alumni, mainly
from the last two decades, gath
ered at the Tenth Street Lounge
in the East Village for a chance
to meet fellow Johnnies, recon
nect with old classmates, and,
of course, talk.
Elizabeth Powers and Sapna
Gandhi met again after Z3
YEARS.
The event was sponsored by
Philanthropia, the alumni
organization dedicated to
fundraising for St. John’s. Stefanie Takacs (A89) spearheaded
the event. “I thought it might
be fun, especially after Septem
ber II, for people to get togeth
er, and I thought it was a nice
way for Philanthropia and the
college to reach out to alumni,”
she says. “The invitation had a
picture of a seminar chair, to
help people remember what St.
John’s is all about and how
important conversation and
community are to the college
and its alumni.”
Among the alumni attending
the event was Annapolis cam
pus president Christopher Nel
son (SF70), who had the chance
to talk to the group about the
relevance of St. John’s in
today’s world. He discussed the
heartfelt and strongly focussed
seminar discussions on the
Odyssey, held just after the ter
rorist attacks. He told of two
current students, Maya Alapin
(A03) and Kelly O’Donnell
(A04), whose letters to The
Gadflycited in a story
that appeared in a number of
newspapers, including the Bal
timore Sun and the Los Angeles
Times. The writers first
described the feelings of guilt,
uselessness, and selfishness
they experienced immediately
after the attacks, but then
explained their newfound
understanding of the impor
tance of a St. John’s education.
Alapin wrote: “It seems to me
that now is a better time than
any for us to show our commit
ment to answering that special
question about living a good
life so that when we are ready,
we can give to the world the
best thoughts we can muster.”
Nelson says that even
though the music was wild and
the crowd pretty loud, “the
quality of the conversation was
nonetheless high. I thoroughly
enjoyed seeing so many good
friends and thought Philan
thropia provided a wonderful
way for alumni to revisit the
college. The sense of communi
ty that exists among such
friends is just great.”
Sapna Gandhi (A91)
describes Nelson’s talk as very
warm and said it made her feel
connected to the community.
She also enjoyed meeting up
with Elizabeth Powers (A89),
with whom she once shared a
short but intense Johnnie
friendship. “It was at the end of
her senior year; I was a sopho
more. We had the chance to
spend a little time together and
we really connected,” Gandhi
says. “But I hadn’t seen her
since 1989. We spent the
evening catching up on each
other’s lives.”
Takacs also passed most of
the night in conversation,
which she says was the primary
purpose of the gathering. She
was pleased to see how plenti
ful and intense discussions
were throughout the room and
she attributed the success of
the event to these talks:
“Unlike some group events
that start to dwindle when the
free alcohol runs out, this con
tinued into the late hours.”
Several alumni at the Tenth
Street Lounge took note of this
phenomenon, reporting that,
although the gathering was
scheduled for 7:00 to 9:30
p.m., the last Johnnies-including Ghris Nelson-left close to
midnight.
Takacs, now Philanthropia’s
Events Ghair, will organize
gatherings in other cities.
While plans are still prehminary, Denver and Boston are
being considered for aooa.
The goal of Philanthropia is
to educate alumni about the
importance of supporting the
college financially; their efforts
focus on fundraising for the col
lege’s Annual Fund. Gifts to the
Annual Fund support the yearly
operation of the college in areas
like faculty salaries, financial
aid for students, and academic
instructional expenses. For
more information on Philan
thropia and Philanthropia
events, call Maggie Griffin at
410-626-3534. 4-
Chess
Champ
Jesse Kraai has been keeping
busy these days. In addition to
the usual round of seminars
and tutorials, paper confer
ences and faculty meetings,
he’s been playing a lot of chess.
Luckily, he’s found a way to
maximize board time during
the few spare hours in a tutor’s
demanding schedule-he’s been
playing many of his games
simultaneously. Last October
he played 3a opponents at once
in a chess exhibition in Santa
Fe. All 3a (including Johnnies
Andrew Smith and Devin King)
lost. In March he played nine of
New Mexico’s top youth players
simultaneously. Although his
age and experience gave him
the distinct advantage, he
agreed to level the field-by
never looking at the boards (he
recorded their moves on paper
and envisioned the games from
his notes). Two of the players
earned draws. Kraai won the
other seven.
Kraai, a graduate of Santa Fe
High School, attended Shimer
College, which features a great
books program similar to St.
{The College- 5f. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
Kraai studies the board in a
MATCH with multiple OPPONENTS.
John’s. He pursued graduate
work in Germany, where he
received his MA in history and
philosophy of science. Kraai
achieved the rank of Senior
Chess Master in 1994. In 1999,
he became the first person from
New Mexico to attain the rank
of International Chess Master.
This past January, he was one
of 56 players who qualified to
compete in the U.S. Chess
Championships in Seattle,
where he finished as one of la
players tied for i6th place. ->■
�{From the Bell Towers}
8
Announcements
Director of
Labs Opening
The Santa Fe campus has a
position open for Director of
Laboratories, who supervises
and supports the operation of
laboratory science at the col
lege. Hans von Briesen, the
current director, plans to retire
after academic year 2,002-3.
Responsibilities include:
• Hiring, training, and
supervising undergradu
ate lab assistants
• Advising faculty on exper
imental work
• Maintaining facilities and
equipment and procuring
supplies
• Supporting the on-going
development of the labo
ratory curriculum and
manuals.
Prior expertise in all parts of
the laboratory curriculum is
not required; rather, candidates
should demonstrate love of lab
oratory science, interest in
expanding beyond prior expert
ise, and interest in studying sci
ence through its original his
torical sources. A master’s
degree in a scientific field or a
bachelor’s degree and equiva
lent education and experience
are required.
Candidates should send a
resume and a brief letter
explaining their interest in the
position to Mr. Jorge Aigla,
Chair, Search Committee for
Director of Laboratories, St.
John’s College, 1160 Camino
Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, NM,
87505-4599-
Tuition and Fees
Announced
Tuition and fees for the aca
demic year 2002-2003 will
total more than $34,000.
Tuition will be $27,210 (a 5.5%
increase over 2001-2002
rates), room and board will be
$6,970 (a 3% increase), and the
student activity fee will remain
at $200. In the Graduate Insti
tute, the tuition per semester
for the Liberal Arts program
will be $5,190 and for the East
ern Classics program it will be
$8,072 (both are 4% increases
over the previous year).
Tuition rates at the college
The St. John’s Search and Rescue Team officers pose in their steel
iest POSTURES. The team, estaelished in 1971, unites Johnnies with
Santa Feans in search and rescue operations for anyone lost or
INJURED IN REMOTE AREAS OF NeW MeXICO. LeFT TO RIGHT: DeVIN KeNNEMORE, Treasurer; Cinnamon Blair, Secretary; Chris CoucheronAamot (SF04), President; Brendan O’Neill (SF93), Training Offi
cer; KoryGoold (SF04), member-at-large; John Laurino (SF02),
Equipment Officer; Mary Freitas (SF80), Vice President.
are similar to those at compara
ble liberal arts colleges nation
wide. More than half of St.
John’s undergraduate students
receive a financial aid package
from the college. And since it
costs about $36,000 to educate
a student at St. John’s, even
those who pay full tuition in
effect receive a subsidy. The
difference is made up through
contributions to the Annual
Fund and income generated
from the endowment.
Flaumenhaft Appointed
Dean
Harvey Flaumenhaft, a tutor at
the Annapolis campus since
1968 and dean since 1997, has
been reappointed to a second
five-year term as dean.
“The work of being dean
unfortunately leaves little time
for study, writing, and reflec
tion, which I sorely miss, bit it is
very interesting-especiaUy to
someone with my scholarly
interest in the theory of organi
zation and administration,” says
Flaumenhaft. “I would nonethe
less regard my five years of it as
quite sufficient were there not
several projects that I’d like to
carry further forward, among
which are: the estabhshment of
faculty development on a more
solid basis; the institution of a
more regular and better sup
ported system for improving our
use of supplemental instruction
al materials; the working out of
arrangements for joint accredi
tation that will include academic
review by an organization devot
ed to hberal education; and the
enhancement of cooperation
between our two campus com
munities without undermining
local enterprise, commitment,
and self-government.”
Hodson Grant to Fund
Mellon Renovation
The Hodson Trust has given St.
John’s College $1.1 miUion, to
be used as a challenge to other
donors for the renovation of
Mellon HaU. The Trust will
match gifts for the renovation.
{The College . St John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
“The Hodson Trust is providing
valuable leverage for the college
to raise additional money to sup
port the Mellon Hall renova
tion,” said President Chris Nel
son. “The challenge program is
both extraordinarily generous in
itself and extremely encourag
ing of further generosity from
the college’s other friends and
alumni.”
The Hodson Trust, estab
lished in 1920, has given more
than $118 million to four Mary
land colleges: Johns Hopkins,
Washington, St. John’s, and
Hood. The annual grants fund
student scholarships and
internships, research, building
construction, faculty endow
ments, and special programs.
Jobs for Johnnies
Alumni who are in the job mar
ket can check out www.sjca.edu/
placement/office.phtml, the
web site for the Placement
(Career Services) office. Many
online resources are available,
from a listing of current jobs
suitable for recent grads and
alumni of the college (updated
daily) to links to job banks and
other resources. Alumni who
are looking for employees also
send job postings to the site.
Karen Krieger, Director of
Placement in Annapolis,
reports that many alumni land
jobs at Johnnie-friendly compa
nies and schools through net
working with other alumni they
find on the site. The Santa Fe
Placement Office site offers a
resume-posting service
(http://WWW. sjcsf. edu/placement/index.html) as well as
additional job listings.
Poet Zuckerman
Elliott Zuckerman, tutor emer
itus in Annapolis, has pub
lished a book of his poetry. The
Shape ofan Ear. The 30 poems
in the volume were written over
a period of more than four
decades. Many were published
either in their current versions
or in earlier versions in The St.
John’s Review, or its predeces-
�{From the Bell Towers}
sor. The College. The volume is
available at the college book
store in Annapolis.
Happy too
Dr. Thomas “Tommy” Turner,
who graduated from St. John’s
in igai and went on to become
dean of the Johns Hopkins
Medical School, celebrated his
looth birthday in January. An
article in the Baltimore Sun
quotes Turner as saying that he
originally wanted to be a coun
try doctor but settled in at Hop
kins instead. He considers his
legacy to include the shift in
emphasis in med school admis
sions from “who you were or
what race or religion or sex you
were” to “intelligence and
brainpower.” Dr. Turner is also
a member emeritus of the St.
John’s Board of Visitors and
Governors.
Twenty-Six
Characters
FOR Meem
What more appropriate greet
ing for a hbrary than a work of
art celebrating the possibilities
of language? “An Environmen
tal Study of Twenty-Six Charac
ters,” a sculpture of the alpha
bet’s characters by Taos artist
Melissa Zink, is now displayed
at the entrance to Meem
Library in Santa Fe. The piece
combines painting, sculpture,
and mixed media. A gift to the
college from Board member
Jeremy Shamos and his wife
Susan, the sculpture was dedi
cated on January a6. At the
dedication, Ms. Zink spoke
about the work:
“In the fall of aooo, I began
to understand the alphabet as
an infinity and to see the
anthropomorphizing of letters
as a way to convey the infinite
possibihties of our language.
As it always is with satisfying
9
Replica Repair
In the early 1950s, the Treasury Department
presented a replica of the Liberty Bell to each
state as part of a campaign to sell defense bonds
to support the Korean War. The bell given to
Maryland ended up on the campus of St. John’s
College, with a base paid for with pennies col
lected by Maryland school children. The bell has
sat on the front campus since then, pointed out
to tourists as a minor landmark, and used as a
mini-jungle gym for children visiting the cam
pus. (For the record: The bell is four feet tall, is
made of 80 percent copper and ao percent tin,
and has no clapper.)
On January 10, the bell was removed from
campus by the McShane Bell Foundry in nearby
Glen Burnie. The foundry will replace the wood
en yoke that supports it with a new one of white
oak, as well as the hardware damaged by the pull
of gravity on the a,5oo-pound bell. The work is
estimated to take 8 to 10 weeks, so the bell
should be back on campus before Croquet Match
visitors even notice it’s gone.
ideas, the task seemed simple
and self-evident. Although it
wasn’t quite so simple as I
imagined, my beUef that the
characters could convey the
wealth inherent in our alphabet
never wavered.
“Since the overarching idea
propelhng this work concerned
Unhinged: The Liberty Bell’s yoke is lifted from
ITS support. The bell was taken to a special bell
foundry for repairs.
the infinite possibilities of let
ters and words and thoughts, no
particular symbolism applies to
each character. The A could be
Abraham or Arabian Nights or
Aleph. L doesn’t equal dog, but
the image could be associated
with love and loyalty or laziness
and lassitude. Every associa
“Art that celebrates the elements of our language seems per
fectly suited to the library,” says Meem director Inga Waite
OF THE PIECE BY
MeLISSA ZiNK (PICTURED).
{The College- St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
tion leads to another, and with
those associations, worlds can
be built. What I hope I have
made is both a game and a
reminder. A game of associa
tions and journeys into places
real or imaginary and a
reminder of the extraordinary,
ultimately indescribable wealth
of thought and image, the
benign galaxies of possible com
binations waiting to express
thoughts yet unthought.
“John Man, in his book
Alpha and Beta, says: ‘To the
many millions who use it rou
tinely, the alphabet seems the
essence of simplicity, as easy as
ABC. But the sense of simplici
ty is deceptive, for the alphabet
is a surface impression of hid
den linguistic depths. Its few
symbols are nothing compared
to the complexity of sounds
they represent, while those
sounds merely hint at the com
plexity of language itself.’
“I hope that ‘An Environ
mental Study of Twenty-Six
Characters’ reminds viewers of
the extraordinary marvel of lan
guage and the minds that use it
and the worlds we occupy.”
�{Letters}
More Animal Books
Re: Hearts of Animals
Yes!!! But how are so many people blinded
by the Nietzschean-Darwinian red-intooth-and-claw dogma? Can’t they see we
and nostri fratelliti live in a universe of
exploration, play, love? May I add to your
excellent booklist Christianity & the Rights
ofAnimals by Andrew Linzey?
—Boyd Kyle, class of 1951
SJC Plaudit
I know that St. John’s is not lacking in
plaudits but recently I found a special rec
ommendation. It is in The Cat Who’ll Live
Foreveriy Peter Gethers, who was the
companion of Norton, the Perfect Cat. This
book was preceded by The Cat Who Went
to Paris and A Cat Abroad. Peter and Nor
ton traveled a lot and one place they went
was Annapolis, which “has one of the great
universities in the country, St. John’s.”
I had the good fortune to meet Norton
when he came to Berkeley. I wasn’t alone there was a whole roomful of people to
meet the famous cat. Norton did not disap
point. He was wonderful and it was a mem
orable evening. Norton has since passed
on, a beautiful, beneficent cat. Even if you
don’t like reading books about cats some
thing of his persona comes through from
his picture on the cover.
Thanks for the nice obituary of Bob Arne
(Fall issue) written by John Carroll Pollak.
I knew Bob in Berkeley, a place he
described as “urban but not urbane.” Bob
walked his own path, leisurely, gravelyBob was not an employee-and philosophi
cal, a rare man.
—Joseph Barrett, A73
A Question of Accuracy
On pages 6 and 40 of the Fall 2001 issue
you report the honors showered on me in
Washington and Annapolis in one week.
May I point out, however, that I did not
edit Religion and Resistance to Nazism? I
wrote and delivered it as a series of lectures
at Princeton (which were followed by very
good discussions). The lectures were subse
quently published as a monograph. It was
work on that subject that led me to the
Moltke letters.
On p. 40, after saying that I “document
ed the resistance of the German people to
Nazism,” you quote Elliott Zuckerman’s
mention of my insistence upon “accuracy
as opposed to the glib generalities we all
encounter.” May I insist on accuracyindeed on the facts of history once more?
Once Hitler had come to power, “the Ger
man people” obeyed him and his apparatus
of propaganda and coercion, swooned
before his charisma, and patriotically fol
lowed him into war in Poland, in Scandi
navia, and Western Europe, in Africa and
Soviet Russia-until the Russians, fighting
back with tremendous losses, exertions,
and fortitude, reached Berlin and he killed
himself.
Against this background of non-resist
ance of “the German people” I have over
more than half a century, ever since those
events happened, taken a passionate inter
est in the brave individuals and groups of
individuals who did resist. I wondered and
still wonder about what animated and
enabled them to risk and in many cases
lose their lives, opposing rather than toler
ating and supporting that regime.
—Beate Ruhm von Oppen
Class of 1961 Reunion Update
We regret the omission in the Fall issue of
The College of any report of the central
event of the 40th reunion of the class of
rqBi at Homecoming last year. That event
was a magnificent and very well-attended
luncheon at the home of Nana and John
Dealy, organized to honor Eva Brann. Our
class’ guests included several members of
the college faculty who were tutors during
the period 1957-61. Here is the text of our
tribute to Eva;
The Members ofthe St. John’s College
Class ofigbi on the occasion ofour 40th
Class Reunion hereby convey to Eva
Brann, who shared, as afreshman tutor in
1951, ourfreshman year at the College, our
unbounded gratitude, respect, apprecia
tion, and affectionfor the great gifts she
has given to us, enjoyed these 44 years,
whose essential nature ispartly reflected in
thefollowing texts:
“Some things I have said of which I am
not altogether confident. But that we shall
be better and braver and less helpless if we
think that we ought to inquire, than we
should have been if we indulged in the idle
fancy that there was no knowing and no use
in seeking to know what we do not know;
that is a theme upon which I am ready to
fight, in word and deed, to the utmost of
my power.” (Socrates in Plato’s Meno)
The study of texts...can foster apprecia
tion for the ingenious wisdom of founding
efforts, patience with the slow develop
ment of depths and complexities, and a
reluctance to wield the tool of reason too
nonchalantly. Surely these intellectual
habits are exactly such as are convertible
into the civic virtues most needful...Yet far
from being incompatible, they are precisely
coincident with the desire to delve into all
abysses and to leave no question unasked.
A period given to inquiry is therefore
indeed an appropriate preparation for
republican responsibilities.” (Eva Brann,
Paradoxes ofEducation in a Republic)
—Cynthia Blesdoe Daley, Nana May Dealy, MarCIA Goldberg Mathog, Linda McConnell, Harri
son Sheppard, Theodore Stinchecum, The Class
OF 1961 Reunion Committee
Corrections
In the article “First All-Alumni Art
Show” in the Fall issue, a name was omit
ted from the list of participants. Christo
pher Zerendow (SFga) also exhibited art
work in the show.
In “The Report of the Presidents - 1999aooi” mailed to all alumni in January, the
extracurricular activities of Annapolis
tutor Andre Barbera were incorrectly
reported. Mr. Barbera is president of the
St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Mary’s
Church.
Photo Recollections
In the 200a “One and Many” calendar
coordinated by Philanthropia mailed to all
alumni, we asked for help with the identifi
cation of people in the photos, since the
photos used from the college archives had
minimal notations. Thanks to everyone
who wrote, e-mailed, or called. Here are
some of the responses:
The mystery people for November are:
sitting on windowsill, Linda Grimes; lying
on bed, Sandy Culbertson; sitting in chair,
Priscilla Bender Shore; sitting on floor,
Emily Martin Kutler.
It was dehghtful to find the photo in the
calendar. I had never seen it before.
—Priscilla Bender-Shore, A55
I recognize several of the people in the
November photograph. On the bed is
Sandy Culbertson, a tall, statuesque and
sweet beauty from California. The picture
does not do her justice. She had an incredi
ble creamy complexion with cheeks that
had a slight rose glow to them, especially
when she smiled, which was often. Her
{The College • St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Letters}
The NOVEMBER WOMEN,
NOW IDENTIFIED.
eyes were large and, I think, brown. Her
hair was a medium-dark brown, and when
she walked in the sunshine, there were
auburn highlights throughout it. She
worked in the dining hall to help pay her
expenses, and I remember being horrified
that she didn’t make the trip home for
Christmas. I would have liked to take her
home with me, but it wasn’t possible as I
was one of eleven members of my house
hold. As I was from a very close-knit family,
this also astounded me and made me ache
for her. She was in the class of ’55.
The name of the student sitting on the
floor escapes me, but I remember her as
very sweet and kind. I read in one of the
alumni newsletters that she later married
Sammy Kutler, a junior who worked in the
mailroom the years I was at St. John’s. He
would have been in the class of ’54 and his
wife was in the class of ’55.
The student at the window I do not rec
ognize at all. I do recognize the study desk
with its lamp and chair, the bedspread and
the radiator at the window. Many of the stu
dents got extra study tables, as weU as an
extra mattress and spread. The study table
fitted perfectly between the two closets and
into the window space. The extra mattress
became the pad for the “window seat” with
the extra length folded up to provide a cush
ion for one’s back. And, of course, the
spread finished the whole thing off. It was a
great arrangement. My room was on the
third floor overlooking the quadrangle
about midway down the hall. In those days
the maid came in, cleaned the room, made
the bed and hung up the clothes. I guess
that is a thing of the past today.
One thing... I would never have recog
nized Barbara Leonard! But then I don’t
look the same as in 195a/53 either.
—Mary Alice McWilliams Muir, A56
I am the student in the photograph on the
page titled “About the people and the pho
tographs.” The shirt I’m wearing is from
Africa.
I can’t be certain, but it is a high probabil
ity that I am the student in the white T-shirt
on the left in the photograph for August.
—George Filz, SF76
I enjoyed the SJC 2002 calendar. I can
identify a couple of the students who are
unidentified in the photos.
March 2002: The student beside tutor
Barbara Leonard is John Rees, A74.
October 2002: The student with the gui
tar is Linda Stromberg, SF77. She is sitting
on a bench in the courtyard of the upper
dorms in Santa Fe. I would date the photo
graph circa 1975, because I remember that
she hved in the upper dorms that year.
April 2002: The tutor in the photo looks
to me like Ray Davis.
I think that I can be of some help in identi
fying people in the photographs in the lat
est edition of the St. John’s calendar.
I think that the identifications of the
April and May photographs are switched.
Although I don’t remember Eva Brann
from my days at St. John’s, I believe that
she is the woman in the May photo. ( She
looks mighty like that even now.) I am cer
tain that the man seen in perfect profile
behind her is Harvey Poe. I am less certain
about the two other people whose faces can
be seen. The person sitting next to Eva
appears to be Jeremy Tarcher. The person
sitting directly behind her seems to be Tom
Heineman. If I am correct about either
Tarcher or Heineman, this photo could not
have been taken later than 1953 when both
graduated.
The identification of the January photo
is probably correct, and it is only coinci
dental that two of the five men in the
photo bear a striking resemblance to men
I knew. The man sitting on the table looks
like Peter Grimes (the husband of Linda
in the November photo). He even has the
pipe from which Peter was never separat
ed. Sitting directly opposite him at the far
end of the table is someone who looks
very much like my senior year roommate,
Frank Polk.
—Martin Dyer, Ago
The February photograph is of Steve Gold
man, SF73; the photographer was probably
J. R. Thompson, but it could have been
Maria Kwong.
The tutor in the April photograph is not
Tom Slakey; it is Ray Davis.
—Michel R. Barnes, SF73
The CollegeviAcwae.^ letters on issues of
interest to readers. Letters maybe edited
for clarity and/or length. Those under 500
words have a better chance of being printed
in their entirety.
Please address letters to: The College
Magazine, St. John’s Gollege, Box 2800,
Annapolis MD 21404 or The College Maga
zine, Public Relations Office, St. John’s
Gollege, 1160 Gamino Gruz Blanca, Santa
Fe, NM 87505-4599.
Letters can also be sent via e-mail to:
b-goyette@sjca.edu, or via the form for
letters on the web site atwww.sjca.edu chck on “Alumni,” then on “Gontact The
Gollege Magazine.”
—Carol High saw, A76
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Johnnies
on
Winter}
HERE COMES
THE SUN
Johnnies across the country bid winter afondfarewell.
By SUS3AN Borden, A87
Ithough T.S. Eliot named April the cruelest month, many Johnnies on the
Annapolis campus would nominate
Fehruary for the title. While the Santa
Fe winter offers outdoor sports and a
near-daily hlue sky, the Annapolis win
ter is all about overcast days, slushy
streets, and promises of snowstorms
that are rarely kept.
Alumni across the country are divided in their approach to win
ter. Some find much that is bitter in the bitter cold. For them, win
ter is a three-month-long battle with icy roads, itchy sweaters, and
a lingering case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Others think
of December, January, and February as one long winter carnival
filled with sledding, skiing, roaring fireplaces, and hot cider.
Kersti Tyson (SFga), a native New Mexican who studied in
Annapolis and Santa Fe, describes a special approach to winter
she discovered when she was a high school exchange student in
Norway. Her host family introduced her to koselig (pronounced
kooshlie). “It’s a word that I find untranslatable in English. Cozy
is the best way to translate it, but it’s more the spirit of being
cozy,” she says, “The Norwegians have this way of going around
making things cozy for themselves in the wintertime. When you
go into a house there are candles lit and good treats on the table.
It’s a kosehg atmosphere.” Tyson, now living in Santa Fe, makes
her home koselig by lighting candles, curling up on the couch
with a blanket and book, drinking hot chocolate, and eating grot,
a rice pudding she learned to cook in Norway (see sidebar).
Who better than a baker living in a northern climate to recom
mend some koselig recipes native to America? Juliet Burch (A88),
who has worked in bakeries (Miss Nancy’s) and restaurants (Con
rad’s) since her college days in Annapolis, now works at the Clear
Flour Bakery in Brookline, Mass. It turns out that the old saw
about the cobbler’s children going shoeless holds true for Burch
and her husband, Dave Vermette (A85), “I don’t bake and I don’t
cook. I live on carryout food,” she confesses. “For us, cabin fever
doesn’t mean warm stews simmering on the stove; it means
there’s nothing to eat in the fridge.”
A native Annapolitan, Burch says it’s taken her a long time to
adjust to Boston winters. Several years ago, she began a non-food
tradition to combat cabin fever. When the malady hits, she and
her sister-in-law drive north through the snow in search of adven
ture. “If it’s winter, we might as well embrace it,” she says. “The
first time we drove to Quebec. It was just incredible, driving
through places with three feet of snow on the ground. People were
riding snow mobiles, they were skiing, it was a winter wonder
land. We drove past a father and son walking together, the father
holding a big rifle, the son holding a winter hare. I thought,
‘Wow, these are people for whom winter means something entire
ly different.’ ”
Burch was right about such people, who are to be found every
where but are in greatest numbers in the coldest regions. Among
them is Carl Bostek (SF68), who moved to Alaska in 1993 when he
was in the Air Force. “I wanted to be someplace with a low popu
lation density, with wilderness, mountains, and ocean,” he says.
“After I got here, I realized there was not really any ocean, at least
around Anchorage, suitable for sailing, but there are mountains
and wilderness and lots of outdoor activities.”
Bostek rattles off a long list of Alaska’s popular winter sports,
then explains that the cold weather and lack of dayhght take their
toll even on the snow enthusiasts who choose to hve so close to the
Arctic Circle. “A fair number of people move to Alaska thinking
it’s going to be just wonderful,” he says. “But most of them first
come in the summer and fall in love tvith the land when the sun
{The College- St. John's College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�14
{Johnnies on Winter}
open a season-appropriate
shines ao hours a day. The
book like those Fetterer
flip side is, come winter,
enjoys. Matthew Gildea
you’ve got close to ao hours
(A8i), associate director in
of darkness each day. Sunrise
the merchandising depart
to sunset is not very long.”
ment of Borders, explains
Still, Bostek says, a lot of
that people usually read to
people stick it out because
escape winter, not celebrate
they love the Alaska summer
it. “Only in the deep south
so much. “But I think every
will people read books with a
body gets somewhat de
winter theme,” he explains.
pressed in the winter,” he
For those willing to buck that
adds. “There’s a big business
trend (or living in the deep
in SAD hghts, dayhght simu
south), Gildea makes some
lators. I try to keep very
recommendations: In the
bright lighting in my house
Heart of the Heart of the
and office, but the real way
Country by William Gass,
you fight the winter is to get
Moist winter air in Annapolis causes snow and ice to coat the trees.
Worst Journey in the World
out and be active.”
by Apsley Cherry-Garrard,
Colorado resident Flo
and Endurance by Alfred
rence Fetterer (A8i) is not so
Lansing.
sure. “While most of my
There are some among us
friends and colleagues love
for whom winter is neither a
winter sports, I hunker down
season of snow sports nor an
by the fire and wait for May,”
-Juliet Burch [A88]
she says, describing an un
occasion for koselig. Suffer
usual approach to the cold for
ers of SAD battle depression
brought on by winter’s short
someone who works at the
hours of sunlight. The National Mental Health Association
National Snow and Ice Data Center.
“It’s pretty ironic that I spend my days thinking about the cryos
(NMHA) describes SAD’s symptoms as the same as those of
phere (‘where the world is frozen’) when I hate the cold so much,”
depression: “changes in sleeping and eating habits; persistent
sad, anxious or ‘empty’ mood; loss of pleasure in activities once
she says. The closest she comes to embracing winter is when she
enjoyed.” While the NMHA reports that SAD isn’t totally under
curls up with a book: “I enjoy reading about the Arctic and Antarc
stood, it says it is a real illness with sometimes severe symptoms.
tic explorers. I recommend The Coldest March by Boulder atmos
Jennifer Coonce (A97) first discovered her susceptibility to
pheric scientist Susan Solomon. It makes the case that Capt.
Robert Falcon Scott was done in on his return from his South Pole
SAD as a St. John’s student. “I grew up in the south, so I never had
expedition in igia not by poor planning, but by the bad luck of
a problem with tvinter. When I moved to Annapol is as a freshman,
abnormal weather conditions.”
I had a lot of trouble in the winter, but it was the first time I was
For many Johnnies, curling up with a good book is the very defi
away from home, so it was an emotional time anyway. I never
thought about SAD until my junior or senior year when I realized
nition of kosehg. But it turns out to be the rare reader who cracks
'If its winter, we might
as well embrace it.
{The CoLLEGE-St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring ssoosi }
�{Johnnieson Winter}
15
People usually need to escape
winter, not celebrate it
that I was always extremely
recent death of George
depressed in February. I’ve
Harrison led the perform
paid more attention to it
ers to include a “Sun set,”
since then.”
featuring “Here Comes
Coonce spent all four
the Sun” and other sunyears in Annapolis, but it’s
themed songs.
likely that February would
As the group planned
have been a happier time
the performance and
for her in Santa Fe. Mark
talked about other songs
St. John (SF82), director of
they’d play, Seeger says, it
athletics and outdoor pro
became clear that many
grams in Santa Fe, says
“sun” songs are actually
that winter is an exciting
depressing. “Like ‘You Are
time on the western cam
My Sunshine.’ It starts bad
pus. “We have cross-coun
and gets worse,” she says.
try and downhill skis, snow
The group decided to sing
boards and snow shoes, and
it anyway, along with
now we have the indoor
“We’ll Sing in the Sun
facility, too. Students are
shine,”
another
suplaying basketball and
prisingly depressing num
using the weight room.
ber. Interviewed shortly
Some get into Search and
before the performance,
Rescue, some are out mak
Seeger described the musi
ing snow caves and doing
cians’ strategy: “I guess
winter camping and back
we’ll just play loud and
country skiing. And even
hope that people don’t lis
Average annual snowfall in Santa Fe is 3a inches.
when
they’re
inside,
ten to the words.”
they’re sipping lattes and
doing their reading,” he says.
Tutors on the Annapolis campus have for many years noted
Gr0T, SCANDINAVIAN COMFORT FOOD
the dark mood that hovers over the campus in February.
To make Grot, you’re more likely to follow a narrative than a
“Begone Dull Care,” a folksong sing-along scheduled yearly to
recipe. Here’s Kersti Tyson’s version;
lift the February blues, was started ten years ago when tutor Joe
“It’s basically rice and milk. You pour a bunch of cooked
Sachs (A68) suggested to then-dean Eva Brann that such an
rice into a pot and put in a bunch of milk. You add the milk,
event was necessary.
then cook and stir until you get a creamy oatmeal consistency.
This year’s performance was held February 16 and led by Assis
Then add some butter and sprinkle it with sugar. Some peo
tant Dean Judy Seeger and her husband Tony; tutors Chester
ple put cinnamon on it.” Tyson adds: “It’s always good to
Burke, George Doskow, Henry Higuera, and Jon Tuck; and for
have some fruit juice with it.”
mer music librarian Tina Davidson. Judy Seeger says that the
{The College - Si. John's College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�i6
{Johnnies on Winter}
Winter warfare: A snowball fight erupts on the quad, ca. 1975.
Whither Winter?
By Florence Fetterer (A81), National Snow and Ice Data Center
Snow and ice data sets gained importance when global chmate
models predicted that greenhouse gas-induced climate warming
would be amplified in polar regions. It makes sense to look at
parameters such as the mass of glaciers, permafrost extent, and
sea ice extent and thickness as indices of chmate change. Arctic
sea ice extent, for example, has decreased by an average 3% per
decade since the 1970s, when the satelhte data record began. A
study based on data from U.S. Navy submarines suggests that sea
ice (which has an average thickness of 3 meters) has thinned in
the western Arctic by about 40% since the 1950s. A study based
on records of the timing of when lakes freeze over in the fall and
melt in the spring shows that the average length of the melt sea
son in the northern hemisphere has increased by about 18 days in
the last 100 years. The lake ice data set upon which the study was
based is quite interesting. The oldest continuous record is from
Japan and dates to the year 1443. Holy people of the Shinto rehgion kept careful records for Lake Suwa because of the belief that
the ice allowed the male and female deities on either side of the
lake to get together.
While some of the observed changes in the arctic, like melting
permafrost and a longer growing season, can be attributed to
higher average temperatures (and a shorter winter, if you hke) ,
the big picture, of course, is much more complicated. Changes
in large scale atmospheric circulation appear to be behind the
changes in arctic ocean ice cover, and may explain why antarctic
sea ice extent has not decreased while ice shelves on the Antarc
tic Peninsula are melting at a rapid rate. The complex of inter
related changes in the Arctic have been characterized by some
researchers with the Yup’ik word Unaami, meaning tomorrow.
The Inuit are immediately affected by these changes, and oral
histories from Inuit community elders are another resource for
researchers. In one eastern Canadian community, for instance,
a new word for “rain in the winter” has appeared in the language
to describe this previously rare phenomenon.
{The College -St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{TheProgram}
ROOTS o/OUR PROGRAM
By Eva Brann
Review of “ The Intellectual Life of the
British Working Classes” by Jonathan
Rose, 534pp., Yale University Press, 2001.
ur ever-alert librarian Lisa Richmond
sent me a review of a book she had
acquired for us which she thought I
might find interesting. I picked it up
right away. Interesting! It kept me up
half the night.
What was so engaging about a book
with such a title? I’ve long been, with
respect to our program, what you
might call a Populist Great Bookster. I mean someone who thinks
not only a. that the great books canon is an indispensable tool for
(and an inevitable result of) the reading life, but also b. that these
are the books that, given a chance, people of all sorts, from
leisure-rich college kids to hard-driven working stiffs, will care
about most. The book I would like to bring to the notice of our
alumni corroborates this faith with a lot of well-attested fact.
Moreover I had long heard rumors that the St. John’s Program
has among its deep and early roots English workers’ self and mutu
al improvement efforts. If someone were to trace the precise connections-a project requiring a lot of historical research-7%e
Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes would be a great
starting point. [Winfree Smith’s A Searchfor the Liberal College:
The Beginning ofthe St. John’s Program (St. Johns College Press,
1983) is another. Smith sets out not only the American
antecedents of our program but pointers to the English connec
tion: Scott Buchanan, the intellectual founder of St. John’s, read
Plato’s Republic with A. D. Lindsay at Oxford. Lindsay, as it hap
pens, was the “tutor” for this course in the Workers’ Educational
Association which figures largely in Rose’s book. Buchanan him
self related our reading list to that published in 1895 by Sir John
Lubbock and made for the English Workers and Mechanics Insti
tute.] What comes over as a first impression is an exhilarating sim
ilarity of spirit.
The spirit is that of the “autodidact,” the type of intrepid, inde
pendent soul who will find out a great book in the most adverse
circumstances and absorb it into his-and remarkably often, given
the social situation-her soul. The aim is “self-improvement,” but
though this term includes a desire to rise in the ranks of class, to
better oneself, it is a wonderful fact-almost miraculously wonderful-that these people read most often for the mere excitement,
the expansiveness, the elevation of it. In other words, they do on
their own what we, also against considerable social pressure, do in
concert: they learn for the sake of the object of learning, for the
delight of it. Their autodidacticism (self-teaching) and their learn
ing for its own sake are clearly connected, and it occurred to me
while reading Rose’s book (though not for the first time) that this
college is a contradiction incarnate: institutionalized autodidacti
cism. For the sake of a certain kind of learning we each teach our
selves, but we do it together.
The workers too eventually established institutions to learn
together, most influential among which in the last century were
the Workers Educational Association and Ruskin College based in
Oxford. A survey conducted in 1936 showed that the worker stu
dents raised “a chorus of ‘Noes’” to the introduction of vocation
al courses: “Knowledge for its own sake is a better principle.” The
same working-class readers turn out to be practically impervious
to ideological pressures; they are avid readers of Marx and openeared listeners to their socialist tutors, but in a jovial, masterful
way they reject what they find unrealistic: a primary motive of the
autodidact is intellectual freedom (30a). And it turns out that
great fiction-designated by the Communists as an opium of the
masses (316)—is a fail-safe inoculant against ideology, meaning
prepackaged theory mechanically and universally applied. In fact
these workers are realistic dreamers who have experience of a
hard world and therefore love the imaginative-not the ideologi
cal-ideal. They are radicals on their own. They read the classics
beginning with the Iliad in inexpensive editions like Everyman’s
Library (the practical realization of Great Books lists like Lub
bock’s). They also drink with the thirst of real readers from that
vast and wonderful reservoir called “Middlebrow” by Virginia
Woolf. What they don’t like much is Modernists like Virginia
Woolf herself, E. M. Forster, and T. S. Eliot-for their snobbery
and their exclusionary difficulty. These are just the authors I’ve
myself read with mere, largely loveless, admiration.
Their reading is as spotty as it is avid. Consequently each work
continued onp. 20
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Tutor Profile}
TURNING IDEAS
INTO ACTION
Santa Fe tutor Linda Weiner spent last summer working on low-tech solutions
for a group ofMayans evolving their own sef-sustaining society
By Ed Moreno
ixteen years ago, Linda Wiener abandoned a
career in academic science to search for
greater understanding and meaning as a St.
John’s College tutor. Last summer, she tem
porarily took leave of the abstractions of the
great books and became a Zapatista companera, a comrade working alongside mem
bers of a Mexican community.
For her month-long reality check, the Santa
Fe tutor worked with the Mayan population in the state of Chia
pas, helping devise low-tech methods for improving their gardens
and farms. The bonus was experiencing an incipient democracy
and the evolution of a self-sustaining society in that troubled
region. “For all of the abstract stuff we do at the college, this was
a real grounded experience-working with real people with real
problems in real time,” she says.
The Transition from Biologist to Philosopher
Wiener grew up with a love of bugs and plants and a feeling that
the land was “alive.” Naturally, she pursued a career in entomolo
gy and, with a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, she
became a curator of Harvard University’s entomology collection in
the early igBos.
But at the pinnacle of a career in hard science, Wiener says she
found her colleagues considered insects and ecosystems only as
mechanisms, while she developed more philosophical interests
such as “what it means for something to be ahve.” Her colleagues
were hostile to the inquiries she wanted to pursue and she realized
that “hard science was not where I wanted to be.” She responded to
an advertisement to teach at St. John’s in Santa Fe in 1985.
“I came to St. John’s and it turned out it was a place where I
could ask the questions that were taboo for a professional scientist
to ask,” she says. She found much of what she was missing in the
writings of Bergson, Aristotle, Goethe, and other authors.
Wiener also found a way to stay close to the insects she loves. In
1990, she founded The Bug Lady, consulting with gardeners, nurs
eries, museums, and government agencies about non-toxic pest
control, identifying bugs for people, and conducting butterfly sur
veys.
Then last year, Wiener got a letter from a Graduate Institute
alumnus she had known from her politics and society preceptorial-Rick van Savage (AGI91)- who had gone to Chiapas to help the
Mayan people with development projects. He invited her to spend
a month sharing her knowledge with the people of the region. She
left in mid-July with her two children, 14-year-old Alex and 12-yearold Vicky.
Weiner had seen the drawbacks of American-style aid projects
when she worked for a think tank on international development
projects. “I saw attitudes that I disliked. For instance, a view of the
people as ignorant and helpless. In the aid projects, we were to tell
them what to do and what their real interests were, so the projects
tended to disempower people. At best, they did some good in the
short term and left nothing useful behind when the project ended
two or three years later,” she says. But what was happening in Chi
apas was different. Weiner was attracted by the autonomous, selfcontained approach toward development the Mayans were pursu
ing. It is known as “solidarity” work, as opposed to typical
development or charity work. “With ‘solidarity’ work, the people
decide what they need, how they’re going to get it, and what their
relationship with the outside experts is going to be. I was very curi
ous to see how that would work in practice,” says Wiener.
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Tutor Profile}
19
''For all ofthe abstract stuffwe do
at the college, this was a realgrounded
experience—working with realpeople
with realproblems in real time.
Helping a Democracy to
Evolve
The world learned about
Chiapas in 1994 when
Mayan insurgents, invoking
the memory of agrarian rev
olutionary hero Emiliano
Zapata, took over the capital
of Chiapas, San Cristobal de
las Casas, to protest Mexican
and global policy that affect
ed indigenous people. “The
Mayans in Chiapas have long
been marginalized in terms
of land, economic opportu
nity, political influence.
They are extremely poor.
They want to be able to pre
serve their native cultures
and they want basic services
such as potable water, elec
tricity, health care, and edu
cation. They also want digni
ty and respect,” she says.
While an uneasy truce
with the Mexican govern
ment has continued, the indigenous people under the Zapatista
banner have been organizing themselves into an independent,
egalitarian society. They have their own government, which is
well-organized and decentrahzed.
Because of their relation
ship with the Mexican gov
ernment, the Zapatistas are
secretive about the details
of their activities and do
not talk about their work in
public. And while the
insurgency carries the aura
of romance, most of the
work is tediously basic,
delivering water, electrici
ty, health care, and educa
tion to people who have
none. Weiner cites the case
of women whose daily twohour walks to fetch water
were eliminated by the con
struction of a simple, gravi
ty-fed water system from a
remote mountain spring.
Since the rebelhon, women
have slowly begun to take
on stronger roles in these
traditionally patriarchal
societies, she says.
Wiener’s role as a companera in the ongoing revolution was with the Mayan women,
helping them improve their horticultural practices. The indige
nous people grow corn, beans, and other diet staples, while other
plants are used for medicinal teas, salves, and tinctures. “Before I
could teach anything, I had to find out what their understanding
{The College. Sf. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�2,0
{Tutor Profile}
continuedfrom p.
stands by itself, a peak of lovely
grandeur, closer to other peaks than
to any surrounding landscape. When
you come to think of it, that’s how we
read: contextlessly, book speaking to
book. The reading schedule of the
WEA is also faintly faimiliar: twentyfour two hour sessions on the books a
year, divided into half-lecture, half
discussion. I’ve heard of tutors who
achieved a similar proportion in
seminar.
Rose could not have written this
book had it not been for the fact
that these working learners were
copious writers of memoirs, which
have now been collected and pub
lished. The fashionable academic the
ory of reader-response. Rose points
out, relied on hypotheses derived
from texts; he is dealing with the real
readers’ recorded responses. Here is
the conclusion, stated in the preface:
Rose is commenting on the radical
epiphany that struck one Will Crooks, Labour MP (readers
of Great Books often became labor leaders) on reading Homer:
As for noncanonical literature, by
(1 and large it did not perform the same
■ function for proletarian readers.
I ...|r]omance novels, school stories
I and tough-guy detective fiction ...
I had a certain educational value for
S common readers. But they usually
4
did not do what the Iliad did.
n
To say why, he goes on, we would
R
have to explain why books enter the
J
canon, “an intimidatingly complicat
ed question.” Amen to that.
There is a sad postscript to all these
glories: In recent times the working
class has been “bypassed by Britain’s
state-supported Bohemia,” squeezed
out between the hostile social forces
of the intellectual’s obscure postmod
ernism and the yuppy middle class’s
cultural consumerism. There must be
more to it; I don’t know. But I do
know that this huge product of illu
minating research gives us our
marching orders: to go and read our
books as if there were no such things as social forces.
Rose could not have written
this book had it not beenfor
thefact that these working
learners were copious writers
ofmemoirs, which have now
been collected andpublished.
Eva Brann is a tutor in Annapolis.
continuedfrom p. tg
was of plants and insects, and what words and concepts made
sense to them,” she says. She ran a workshop on composting,
beneficial insects, and the use of simple treatments such as a soap
and water solution to keep aphids and other bugs off plants. She
created low-tech tools, such as a plastic bottle with holes in the
cap, to spray the solution on the plants. The local people would
not use, and could not afford, commercial pesticides. “They have
no alternative but to do organic gardening,” she says.
Beyond agriculture, Wiener found an enthusiastic population
eager to discover values Americans have taken for granted. In
town-hall style meetings, they make sure that everyone is heard
and all resources are equally shared. “It’s exciting to see. They’re
inventing democracy for themselves,” says Wiener. “To hear peo
ple talking about liberty and dignity, and trying to articulate the
principles, is really quite moving.”
Even though the population has little education or access to
books, much less great ones, Wiener found them to be articulate
about the principles they were espousing. “In tutorials at St.
John’s,” she says, “my Chiapas experience is a reminder that T’m
not as smart as I think.’ You think you have all the answers, but
you go down there and you don’t. It helps to keep me grounded. In
general. I’m in favor of that.”
Ed Moreno is the executive director ofNew Mexico Independent
Colleges.
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�I S T O RY
PRESIDENT
JOHN McDowell
Thefirstpresident ofSt. John spersonified thefrontier spirit and
brought to the college basic ideals that are still held dear.
By Barbara Goyette, A73
the wings of a senior practitioner. To
he Rev. William Smith (who probably under
support himself, McDowell ran a school for
wrote the 1784 charter for St. John’s Col boys. He passed the bar in Maryland and
Pennsylvania and soon had a successful
lege) was serving as president pro tern of practice
in Dorchester County. His many
the new college. When the trustees adver years of scraping by had taught him to be
shrewd in business dealings and he began to
tised for “a Stranger or some Gentlemen invest
his earnings. When the new college
of Great Character from Europe” to serve of St. John’s was looking for professors in
1789, McDowell jumped at the chance to
as the first president. Smith suggested instead
they might
move to Annapolis, which was the center of
look for a man who would “suit the Americanpolitical
Genius.
action”in Maryland. An ardent Fed
T
When no gentleman from Europe showed
up interested in the joh, the Board offered
the position to John McDowell, who was
already heading up mathematics and natu
ral history studies at the infant college.
McDowell was definitely a product of Amer
ica-born in r75i and raised on the Pennsyl
vania frontier, he learned his math from
surveying the family farm, his economics
from the barter system in effect before the
time of paper money and banks, his theolo
gy from the Presbyterian catechism, his
empathy with the common man from serv
ing as a private during the Revolution, his
political savvy from working his way
through the College of Philadelphia and
reading law.
When he was a child, his family lived in a
stockade as protection from Indian raids
that occurred in Cumberland County, Penn
sylvania, during the French and Indian War.
For three years he attended John King’s
Latin School, his only formal learning as a
youngster. In 1768 he went east to the Col
lege of Philadelphia (now University of
Pennsylvania). He had no money for
tuition, so he arranged to attend classes in
He had no money
for tuition, so he
arranged to attend
classes in exchange
for tutoring
other students.
exchange for tutoring other students. At
commencement he gave an oration entitled
“On the Advantages of Studying History.”
Commencement exercises in the i8th cen
tury were not the celebrations for the stu
dents and family that they are today;
instead, students were to demonstrate to
the public that they had attained a level of
learning by delivering addresses. McDow
ell’s oration was, in effect, his senior essay.
After serving in the Revolution as a pri
vate (most of his friends were officers, but
his lack of means prevented such a posi
tion), McDowell traveled to Cambridge on
Maryland’s Eastern Shore to read law. In
1782, professional training often took place
eralist, he found a group of like-minded
friends in the town. The Board of the col
lege, recognizing the elements of “Ameri
can Genius” in him, appointed him presi
dent (called principal at the time) in 1790.
For the first decade of his presidency,
McDowell had a successful run. Students
came from across the state and some from
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia to
attend St. John’s. In 1791, George Washing
ton paid a visit to the campus where his two
nephews and step-grandson were enrolled.
McDowell taught Euclid, algebra, spher
ical trigonometry, logarithmical arith
metic (“with its applications to compound
interest, annuities, and recessions”), sur
veying, navigation, conic sections, natural
philosophy, and more. The college com
bined a preparatory school course-Latin,
Greek, basic math, etc.-left over from
King William’s School with the three-year
university course. McDowell lived on the
second floor of the school’s one building
(later named McDowell Hall in his honor);
classes were held on the first floor and stu
dents lived on the third floor. He was a
bachelor and must have devoted most of his
waking hours to teaching and shepherding
his charges.
{The College -Sf. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�2.2.
{History}
In the early i8oos, debate
raged in the state legislature
about the best ways to pro
vide for the citizens. Educa
tion was a frequent topic as
the Federalists and the
Democrats argued about
whether the college was
using money that could be
better spent on local schools
that would reach out to all
economic classes of students.
In 1806 the legislature cut
funds to St. John’s. McDowell
left. If letters he wrote to a
business associate, Henry
Maynadier, are an indication
of his true state, McDowell
considered himself to be in
John McDowell: teacher, lawyer, college president.
ill-health and in need of rest.
He accepted a post teaching
and as provost of the University of Penn not active as president and most college
sylvania. When he left Annapolis, he took functions were carried out by the vice prin
with him a slave, Joseph Williams, because cipal, Henry Davis. In a letter to his friend
he knew that slavery was not permitted in Col. Maynadier dated October 17,1816, and
Pennsylvania and the young man would be written from Pennsylvania, McDowell says:
“I have not yet recovered sufficiently to
free after a period of service to him.
When St. John’s again received money engage in business, but expect to visit
from the state, the Board asked McDowell to Annapolis, probably in the beginning of next
return; he didn’t accept their offer right month, with such a stock of health, I hope,
away, but did agree in 1815. In his absence, as will enable me to give some assistance, if
the college suffered from low enrollment it should be wanted. At present, the business
and, of course (since the legislature had cut [operating the college] can be very well con
funds), lack of resources for improvement. ducted without me.”
One consequence of McDowell’s return
The Board may have been desperate for
McDowell’s leadership, but his letters was an infusion of support from the col
referred constantly to his ill-health and low lege’s alumni, including Francis Scott Key.
spirits, and he seemed unengaged in activi The alumni chipped in to keep the college
afloat in 1817 and a few years later founded
ties that had formerly given him pleasure
discussions of pohtics and teaching. He was one of the country’s first alumni associa
tions. Key might have
remembered the message
of McDowell’s commence
ment address, dehvered to
Key’s class in 1796: “The
end of education is to
direct the powers of the
mind in unfolding them
selves, and to assist in
gaining throughout bent
& force, to teach it rather
how to think...than what
to think...”
By April of i8ao,
McDowell was living on
the Eastern Shore, elderly
and frail, but still presi
dent of St. John’s in name.
He wrote: “My time has
been fully occupied in
teaching and reading, par
ticularly Greek of which I have become
fonder than of any other study.” He died in
December of that year in Pennsylvania.
McDowell had lived on the cusp of the
new world order that was to become the
United States, and he brought to the college
the skills and sensibilities he had devel
oped. He did indeed “suit the American
Genius.”
Sources used in this article are: “John
McDowell, Federalist: President of St.
John’s College, ” by Charlotte Fletcher, in
The St. John’s Review, 1990; The Early His
tory of St. John’s College in Annapolis, by
Tench Francis Tilghman, St. John’s Press,
1984; letters from John McDowell to Col.
Henry Maynadier, in the collection of the
Greenfield Library.
{The College- St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{AlumniNotes}
1948
George Trimble was asked by the
Biographies Editor of the “IEEE
Annals of the History of Comput
ing” to write his memoirs for pub
lication in the Annals. They are in
the July-September issue, titled “A
Brief History of Computing: Mem
oirs of Living on the Edge.” Trim
ble credited St. John’s with con
tributing to his success in the
computing field by teaching him
how to think.
Trimble was the first St. John’s
graduate to enter the computing
profession, starting in 1949 on the
ENIAC, the first electronic com
puter. After three years he joined
IBM and was involved in the
design of virtually every one of
their early computers. Three years
later he was part of a group that
formed the world’s first software
company. Computer Usage Com
pany.
Trimble spent the past 30 years
as an independent computer con
sultant at T-Logic, Inc. He writes:
“I am still ‘living on the edge’ hav
ing been involved for the past
three years in the development of
an advanced inference engine
implementing a method of auto
mated reasoning based on Term
Functor Logic. It can be used in
automated reasoning, expert sys
tems, sophisticated network secu
rity, and in natural language pro
cessing. There are still leading
edge (read bleeding edge) uses of
computers to be exploited.”
we are coping well with the help of
our church and neighbors.”
1950
Ted Hendricks writes that he won
a dispute with his cat. Chiggers.
“The cat would not eat the 23-cent
cat food I bought. If I smoked a
cigar while writing, he wheezed
and gasped. He groaned when I
played the recorder. I finally hit
him in the head with a volume of
Aristotle and he gained some
sense. He ate the cat food.”
We had to walk on raised ramps to
keep dry. America seems like a
‘baby’ when one sees places stand
ing since 500 AD or the 1100,
laoo, or 1300S, and walk the same
streets their people walked. This
was different from my previous
trips and gave us a better view of
us in the world.”
Arianne Laidlaw retired last year
and spent three weeks in Vietnam
in quest of a family she sponsored
in 1975. She also saw Thailand and
Hong Kong.
i960
1955
“People say life is short. The years
pass quickly,” tvrites Carolyn
Banks-Leecwenburgh. “Well,
they are right. It seems only yes
terday I was a student at St. John’s.
Many former students are still in
my life for which I thank my asso
ciation with the College. And-I
still recognized them! These are
good years. We are still in the trav
el business but we have more time
to travel together. Helge and I
remarried in 2,000. Our son, Todd
(A85) and his wife held us up. No
children yet just grandchildren.
I’m still teaching ESL and singing
locally. We’ve been in Princeton
30 years now. It’s a neat town.
Drop by, any time.” Carolyn adds a
P.S.: “I miss my friend and class
mate, Hilyer Gearing Shufeldt,
who just recently died of cancer.”
1949
1957
The Rev. Fred P. Davis writes:
“Since our report a year ago, we’ve
been engulfed with some problems:
Our son David (who has been our
handyman, living with us since ’90,
fell and broke his left leg below the
knee-both bones, cutting main
nerve and still mostly confined to a
wheelchair. Wife Rita went on 24hour oxygen in March (emphyse
ma) hooked up to rotating tanks in
our house. I’m the outside man,
doing all errands for food, etc. But
Joan Cole writes: “Just returned
from a whirlwind tour of Europe
with my sister and a friend. We
were there when the tragedy hap
pened. One can understand how
shocked and helpless we felt. I was
afraid to fly home. The trip was
tiring, one which helps you deter
mine where you want to stay
awhile. If anyone wants to see
Venice, go before it floats away.
Every day water comes up between
the stones and floods the streets.
Ed Mini writes: “I came to Con
necticut in 1970 and got stuck here
above the Arctic Circle. Along the
way I married a Connecticut lady
and (after USNA and St. John’s)
finally got a math degree from the
University of Hartford. Although I
spent many years in the corporate
computer jungles I managed to
keep tangent to those values and
emerged from my latest (and last)
takeover war with a nice buyout,
three pensions, and (since 1997) a
small software development shop
in an iio-year-old machete factory
on the Farmington River. My older
daughter, Angela, lives in Florida
and my younger daughter, Kate,
graduated in 2000 from Bard; she
is actually employed in her odd
degree field (Community
Resources/Environmental Studies)
as Program Coordinator for the
New York City Urban Park Rangers.
(She even has an affordable apart
ment in Washington Heights). I
very much enjoyed telling Leon
Botstein, Bard’s president, on
parental visits, how conventional I
found Bard compared to St. John’s
(Bard prides itself on its out-of-themainstream status). I do not
acknowledge New England winters
and spend March thru October,
when not in front of a computer, on
my boat and bicycle. I am gradually
convincing my wife, Gretchen, that
it is not immoral to be warm from
December thru February by taking
her to places with no snow or freez
ing rain (such as Honolulu) at least
once each winter.
“I’m sure there are a lot of St.
John’s students worried about the
relevance of the liberal arts in
today’s money- and tech-dominat
ed world. I don’t know if The Idea
ofa University is still discussed at
St. John’s, but it sure was in my
time, and is no less relevant today.
If the values of St. John’s are inter
nalized they are pure gold in the
marketplace. Unfortunately for
many, internalizing those values is
the key-IMHO, those who treat
SJC as a sort of cultural smorgas
bord (as I myself was accused of in
my first Don Rag) have wasted
four years and a lot of money, and
give us unreconstructed liberal
artists a bad name.
“It occurs to me that, in the
interests of full disclosure, I
should make it clear that I did not
graduate. I was expelled in the
spring of my junior year for over
In Demand: Islamic Studies Lecturer
am no longer serving the Stratham Community Church,” writes
I
J.J. Bodine (Class of 1963). “I am presently (and into the fore
seeable future) Pastor and Teacher at the United Church of
Warner, New Hampshire. I remain bonded to New Hampshire
in many ways-not least of which is discovering in Warner a very small
Roman Catholic undergraduate school, Magdalen College, whose
curriculum and approach to education is extraordinarily like that of
St. John’s-their first academic dean was a tutor at the Santa Fe cam
pus. I discovered all this when they asked me to deliver a Friday
evening lecture on Islam (my PhD is in History of Religions: Arabic
and Islamic Studies, and I have been in high demand since 9/11, as
might be expected). The student body is bright, articulate and several
on the faculty are fascinated at my having been a Johnnie. Best to all.”
{The College ■ St John's College . Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{AlumniNotes}
2.4
cutting, during a particularly
rocky stretch of my life, Simon
Kaplan’s German tutorial. The
‘unexcused absence’ rule in those
years was Draconian but its
enforcement was, to put it mildly,
flexible. However, my relations
with then-Dean Curtis Wilson
were not of the best, and I suppose
that I didn’t help my case any by
responding to his ‘I’m sorry this
happened, Mr. Mini’ with ‘I’m
never sorry to see justice done,
Mr. Wilson. I’m just sorry you
picked me to be just to.’ That
aside, my St. John’s experience
was of profound importance to my
life, especially as I am now slowly
becoming a free man. kalepa ta
kala. My e-mail address is: edmini@inftek.com.”
1964
John Hetland has joined The Art
Mob, a small a cappella group that
sings shape-note and other unlike
ly music. Concerts in December
and May. See www.artmob.org.
peace. The reading and our discus
sion were unsettling, so we turned
to ‘The Optimist’s Daughter’ by
Eudora Welty for our next discus
sion. Our group includes Tom and
Marion Slakey, Arianne Laidlaw
(A57), and Marjory Beamish
(SF78).”
1971
Sarah Sarai’s (SF) story “The
Wild Night I Was Born” will be
published in the Tampa Review.
The journal’s url is Tampa Review.
http://tampareview.utampa.edu/
subscribe/.
Michael ViCTOROFE (A) writes a
regular monthly column on ethics
in Managed Care magazine.
Dolores A. Strickland (SF) has
been taking art classes at the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts, and had her first art exhibit
this past September.
1973
1966
Julia Busser du Prey, en route to
a family funeral in Maryland in
October, stopped at the campus.
“It’s looking more beautiful than
ever and bringing back memo
ries,” she writes.
Laurie Franklin Callahan (SF),
(formerly Laurie Ellen Franklin) is
director of university communica
tions at Marymount University in
Arlington, Va.
1968
Antigone Phalares (SF) writes:
“Our alumni seminar group read
portions of the Koran searching
for the words to back the news
reports that Islam promotes
Stephen Slusher (SF) is in Albu
querque practicing intellectual
property law at the firm Pencock,
Myers, and Adams, PC. He works
primarily in biotechnology patent
prosecution and litigation. He can
be reached at sslusher@pencocklaw.com.
Carol Calhoun’s (A) book. The
Governmental Plans Answer Book,
was published by Aspen Publish
ing, Inc. in January, 2002. It is the
first book to discuss both federal
and state laws that apply to retire
ment systems that governmental
agencies run for their employees.
Carol appeared on the CBS
Evening News on February 4,
2002, discussing employee bene
fits law aspects of the Enron situa
tion.
1976
Victoria Hanley (SF) recently
won the Colorado Book Award in
the Young Adult Category for her
book. The Seer and the Sword.
1977
Christian Kip Smith (SF) reports
that his work involves the neu
roimaging of dreams, risk, and
trust.
Carla Schick (A) had a poem
published in The Peralta Press,
2001 and will be published again in
2002. In 2000 she won an honor
able mention for her poem, “Lost
Working Class Heroes,” in the
Reuben Rose Memorial Contest.
1974
Carol Highsaw (SF) writes: “I am
looking forward to our 25th
reunion in July 2002. See you in
Santa Fe!”
1967
William Schreitz and his wife
Lee became grandparents April
25, 2001. William Clark Gleasner
is the son of his eldest daughter
who lives with her husband, Steve,
and Clark in Appleton, Maine.
What goes around comes around.
Jena Morris (SF) reports that it
was with great pride that she
watched her son, Jeremy BrenINGSTALL (AGI01), graduate from
the Graduate Institute in Annapolis
last May. Itwas truly a deja vu expe
rience since the keynote speaker
was Elhott Zuckerman. One of Jere
my’s favorite tutors was David
Townsend, who was the fourth per
son to see Jeremy following his birth
in Santa Fe in 1975. Jeremy’s father
Galen Breningstall (SF 73) was
David’s co-intern tutor at the time.
1978
Amy McConnell Franklin (A)
writes: “I have moved to Taos
from New Orleans with my hus
band Bob and our children ages
14-3. Glad to be in the west again
and grateful for continuing news
from the college. I’m a practicing
mental health counselor still
{The College. St. John’s College . Winter/Spring soos }
involved in preventive care and
education.”
1979
Kathleen JiRCiK (SF) is a practic
ing architect and PTA president in
Houston, Tex. She and her husband
Mark have 2 sons, Daniel and Allen.
1980
Steven Barkhimer (A) and
(EC96) has a CD of original
music-“Time Was’’-available at
www.cdfreedom.com.
John J. Byrnes (A) writes:
“Credo! ‘Out from a very small
beginning-onto undiscovered
ends-there is nothing worth the
wear of winning-save laughter and
the love of friends.’ Slainte!”
1981
Thomas Brintle (A) and his wife,
Denise, celebrated twelve happy
years of marriage. They have lived
most of that time in New Hamp
shire.
Amy Silver (A) writes: “Although
I attended St. John’s for only one
year (one semester at each campus
in 77-78, and my name was Amy
Silverman then), I continued to
read the books over the years,
often in the company of one of the
DC-area alumni reading groups.
The influence of the college’s
approach will be apparent to any
Johnnie who comes across my
book. Guerrilla Learning: How to
Give Your Kids a Real Education
with or without School (Wiley,
2001, co-authored with Grace
Llewellyn). Grace and I argue in
the book that education is largely
something that takes place in the
context of the family and life as a
whole, and is best guided by love
and curiosity, and not something
that happens primarily in schools,
where coercion and political con
trol are often in the lead. Among
the families whose stories we tell
�{AlumniProfile}
2,5
Memoirs of a Geisha Business Writer
How Edith Updike paid her dues as ajournalist and Japan hand.
By Roberta Gable, A78
ometimes the achievement of
escape velocity at graduation
catapults the freshly minted
alum an impressive distance,
and thus it was with Edith
Updike (A86), who, although
she had a positive experience at the col
lege, was ready to shake the dust of this lit
tle town off her feet. She decided to go to
teach English in Japan-“I couldn’t get any
further away! ” After a summer sojourn at
the Monterey Institute of International
Studies (MIIS), where she learned enough
Japanese to be “capable of framing ques
tions but often unable to understand the
responses,” it was off to Tokyo.
In the mid-eighties, remember, it was
more or less reasonable for native English
speakers to expatriate themselves to Japan
with nothing waiting on the other end, and
find a decent job teaching English.Tokyo
was boomtown, bigtime. Foreigners were
much in demand, even those who didn’t
know a word of Japanese. And although
Updike had put plenty of distance between
herself and Annapolis, she wasn’t far from
the college community: her classmates
Chuk (pronounced “Chewk”) Besher (a
Japanese citizen), Maggie Kinser (A85) and
Nathan Walker (A86) were living in Tokyo.
Updike touched down, drank her first $6
Coca-Cola, and set to work finding a place
to live and a job. Her first home was an
$8oo-per-month ten-foot square room (toi
let and shower down the hall) which she
and Walker shared. Her first job was not as
an English teacher, but as a hostess.
Now there’s a St. John’s education at
work! Her job was to hang around in a club
every night from seven until midnight,
being a (chaste) companion for the men
who showed up to drink and sing karaoke.
By day she studied Japanese, and by night,
she was a modern-day geisha. Her club.
Petit Rose, specialized in international (i.e.
non-Japanese) hostesses. Meanwhile, she
started teaching English on the side. Enter
taining Japanese “salarimen” got pretty
old in a few months, and Updike was glad
to land a teaching job, working for a com
pany that sent her to teach small classes of
businessmen and “office ladies” (a gra
cious version of the western “administra
tive assistant”). She taught all kinds of
folks, from Kentucky Fried Chicken man-
Wanderlust led Edith Updike to Japan.
agers, who needed English specific to the
Colonel’s cookin’, to Formula One race
engineers at Honda, who arrived for class
with oil often on their fingertips but
almost never on their white coveralls.
After taking a break for international
travel, Updike easily found an ESL job. But
she was keen on getting a job in journal
ism, so when Tokyo Today, an English-lan
guage arts and entertainment magazine,
was looking for “contributors” (read “vol
unteers”), she presented herself. She start
ed working round the clock: teaching from
seven to nine in the morning, at the maga
zine all day, then another class at six or
seven in the evening. The magazine even
tually started to pay her a pittance. After
six months, she became managing editor.
After a few years with Tokyo Today she
went for the big money in corporate com
munications, writing annual reports, cor
porate magazines, newsletters, and
brochures. This was around 1991-92, when
the economic bubble of rampant specula
tion was just about ready to burst.
She soon resolved to take the next step
toward developing a truly professional
journalism career, and she returned to the
U.S. to enroll in the Columbia Journalism
School, in September 1993. She loved it.
She enjoyed her classmates and she had a
swell time learning more about New York
in the first three months there than she
had ever known growing up on Long
Island, as she sat in night court, dug
through building code archives, and
accomplished other journahstic trials.
Updike says that the more you put into a
country, the more you’ll get out of it-exponentially. A lot of those who want to go
abroad figure they’ll just be there a couple
of years, and then return to life as we know
it, and they don’t become invested in their
temporary home. After four years in-country, though, Updike had become some
thing of a Japan hand, and her work at
Tokyo Today had earned her one of two
East-Asia Fellowships (which entailed a full
scholarship to Columbia), plus a subse
quent internship. Ayear after graduation
she was a full-time Tokyo correspondent
for Business Week.
Ah, the happy life of she who has paid her
dues! She spoke the language, knew the cul
ture, and had a terrific job that got her into
all manner of inner sancta. She covered the
auto industry, which was a swell assign
ment, and whatever else came her way. Her
job eventually developed into the trade beat.
She interviewed people from the president
of Toyota to the Prime Minister of Japan.
But our restless heroine was still hanker
ing to repatriate, and angled for Busines
Week to transfer her stateside. Between
luck and finagling, she landed a position in
New York covering emerging businesses,
just at the dawn of the internet boom.
After a few years, she got out, and
became a free agent. She dabbled in public
relations and hated it. She advised some
start-ups on business plans. For the past
two years she has edited a monthly newslet
ter on labor force diversity. Last June she
had her first child, and is glad to have a
skill that enables her to work at home.
Writing suits Updike well. “The great
thing about being a writer is that you have
the flexibility to live wherever you want,”
she says. And with that recognition of the
opportunity for wandering, she and her
husband are planning to move out to the
country and settle down-at least for a
couple of years.
{The College - S?. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{AlumniNotes}
2.6
in the book are the Gushues—
Susan (A79) and Michael (A78)whose flexible mix of homeschool
ing, public schooling, and charter
schooling for their five children
we present as a model.
In my other life I’m a singer
songwriter, gigging occasionally
in the region around my Shenan
doah Valley, Virginia, home and
travelling to Nashville periodically
to beat my head against the walls
of Music Row. I’m also coordina
tor for the Kid Pan Alley project,
an organization that puts song
writers in schools to write songs
with kids and has produced a real
ly excellent CD that raises funds
for music education. My children
Carsie (16) and Elijah (9) and 1
would love to hear from any John
nies who want to canoe the
Shenandoah River this summer.”
essay in Civil Society and Govern
ment (Princeton University Press)
and he’s got a major essay on
James Madison and multicultural
ism coming out soon.
1982
1984
Path Nogales (A) writes: My son,
Alex Ozdemir, and my daughter,
Zoe Ozdemir, have both learned
how to read. And their favorite
responses to the statement of any
given fact are ‘How do you know
that?’ and ‘Why?’ ”
MarkTimoney (A) writes: “1 am
married. My wife is named Maria
(nicknamed Pachi). We have four
kids ages 3, 5, 7, and 9.1 work in
finance, mostly with Latin Ameri
ca. I would welcome hearing from
1986
1983
“After a 33-year residence in New
Mexico, 1 recently moved from
Santa Fe to Ellicott City, Mary
land, where 1 live with my daugh
ter, Julia (SF84), her husband,
GregToppo (SF85), and their
two children plus assorted ani
mals,” writes Mary Morris
Neidorf (SGI83). “1 always enjoy
hearing from former students of
mine and of my husband Robert.
My address is 10356 Tuscany
Road, Ellicott City, MD. 21043.”
Tom Palmer (A) just published an
Fairy Tales with a Modern Twist
omehow, between parenting and teaching at my son’s preschool, renovating our old Victorian, and working as a graphic
and web designer, I have surprised myself by writing the
libretto for a full-length comic opera,” writes Kristen Baum
gardner Caven (SF86). ‘Shoes, a Mirror and a Big Pink Rose’ (a.k.a.
Trittico delle Principesse) is about three young women and is based on
the fairy tales Cinderella, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast with
a modern twist, of course. For example, Cinderella’s fairy godmother
is a drag queen, and Snow White takes refuge in a frat house. To create
the fraternity, I imagined a small community of Johnnie wannabes:
‘Welcome to the Brotherhood of Greek Geeks! / No one knows exactly
who we are! / Legend on the campus for our high I-Q’s / But scorned
by gorgeous women near and far! ’ The Upsilon Psi brothers make ter
rible jokes with the Greek alphabet, and a quote from Ptolemy hangs
on the wall. And of course they deduce the chemical reactions that
cause her to fall into a coma!
“My goal now is to find a composer, an opera company to produce it,
and/or a grant or other source of funding. I would deeply appreciate
any recommendations or introductions from alumni. My e-mail is kristen@littlepig.com. A synopsis and librettos are available at www.zaftigopera.org if anyone is looking for a fun read (and who isn’t?).”
“
any colleagues and friends.” His
address is 209 W. 107 St. #iW,
NY, NY 10025.
Todd Masilon (A), his wife Renee,
and children Molly and Ian (due in
early May) are finally overcoming
their culture shock and getting
somewhat settled in Darmstadt,
Germany. Todd is the Executive
Officer for the Headquarters Com
pany of the 66th MUitary Intelli
gence Group. He says he has a very
difficult-if somewhat un-glamorous-year ahead.
Todd writes: “As public trans
portation (Molly is quite fond of
riding the ‘Strassenbahn’-and does
a great job pronouncing it) is a
gazillion times better than anything
found in the States, the three of us
have gotten to know the city pretty
well over the past few weeks. As
Renee is getting well into her third
trimester, extensive travel through
out Europe will have to wait for
some time. We’re still awaiting the
bulk of our household goods from
Ft. Stewart. The bulk of Molly’s
important stuff is here, however, so
things are manageable.” The
Masilon’s new address is: CMR 431,
Box #1947/APO AE 09175.
In addition to indexing, L. Pilar
Wyman (A) is now also working at
the Key School in Annapohs as assis
tant librarian in the Manse Library
(Pre- and Lower School). “It’s fasci
nating, seeing how kids search and
use libraries,” she writes.
1987
Margaret Elizabeth “Betsy”
Williams (SF) writes: “I began
making pots in 1992 in a small
Japanese workshop in Manhattan.
In 19941 entered an apprentice
ship to Mr. Yutaka Ohastu in Karatsu, Japan. I trained under Mr.
Ohastu in the Karatsu tradition,
known for its spontaneity and
grace—especially among tea cere
monyware, for four and a half
years. I came back to New Mexico
in 1999, and my home/studio and
{The College. Sf. lohn’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
wood-fired kiln were completed in
late summer 2001, near Dixon
(about an hour north of Santa Fe). I
will have my first solo exhibition
beginning on April 5, 2002 for
onemonth at the Touching Stone
Gallery in Santa Fe. The show will
he available for viewing on the
gallery web site: www.touching
stone.com.
1988
Rachel Ankeny (SF) writes: “I
moved to Sydney, Australia in
mid-2000 for a mixture of person
al and professional reasons, and
am the director of the Unit for
History and Philosophy of Science
at the University of Sydney, where
I teach philosophy of science, his
tory and philosophy of biomedical
sciences, and bioethics. Sydney
is an amazing place to live (and
visit! Friends should contact me
if you will be coming through
town). My partner and I live near
the beach and enjoy cooking for
crowds-just warn us if you don’t
like kangaroo.” Rachel’s e-mail
is r.ankeny@scifac.usyd.edu.au.
December saw the publication of
two books by Kim Paffenroth (A).
He is a coauthor of Beyond SelfInterest: A Personalist Approach to
Human Action (Lexington Books),
and the author ofJudas: Images of
the Lost Disciple (Westminster
John Knox Press). He will appear
(however briefly) on a documen
tary on Judas to be aired at the end
of March on the History Channel.
William E. Gattis (SF) and
Stephanie Porter (with their son,
Beno) are moving to Matrose,
Colo., to start a medical practice.
1989
Sophie Romano-Ehrhardt (SF)
writes that she and her husband
Mac are still married and their
children, Isabel (age 5) and Sam
(age 2) have not run away from
home yet. Sophie is studying vio
lin and playing bridge. She says,
“Hi to all Johnnies. Give a call.”
�{Alumni Notes}
1990
The Rev. Gerard Sparaco (A)
writes: “I was married October 4,
1998 to Jessica. Graham Harman
(A) was best man. I studied at Con
cordia Theological Seminary in
Fort Wayne, Ind. and was ordained
June 3, 2001 in Evansville, Ind. I’m
now Pastor at Crown of Life Luther
an Church in Mt. Laurel, N.J.”
1991
Patrick Cho (A) and his wife,
Suzanne, welcomed their daughter
to the world June i, 2001!
Michael David Sasson (SF), who
was recently elected president of
his local union in Oakland, Cahf.,
still harbors an ambition to give an
SJC Friday night lecture on Pascal,
Genesis, and the Gospel of John
dealing with themes of love, faith,
and original sin. He can be con
tacted at simcha3@msn.e0m.
Andrew Schwartz (A) has joined
the regional defense litigation law
firm Marshallo, Dennehey, Warn
er, Coleman & Goggin as an asso
ciate in its Philadelphia office. He
is a member of the firm’s profes
sional liability practice group.
1992
Michael Zinanti (SF) writes:
“Susan Svetich (SF93) and I got
married right before I went to
engineering school in 1995.1 grad
uated from the University of Den
ver in 1998 with a BS in electrical
engineering about a year after the
birth of our only child (so far)
Anna. I worked at Ball Aerospace
designing antennas for low observ
able military applications for
about three years. The work was
exciting, but the high security
stuff got old. Now I work for a
company that makes antennas for
wireless LAN and cellular phone
applications. In all I have six
patent applications being
processed, five for antennas and
one for a roller skate wheel. The
only one I actually own rights to is
the roller skate/skateboard wheel
and I am developing that right
now. I hope to have a working pair
of skates by this spring, and if
things look right I may get out of
antennas altogether and make
roller skates. Who knows? I am
anxiously awaiting the class
reunion this summer. Please go to
it if you were in the class of ’92.1
hope that this catches you up a lit
tle bit on me, and I hope to catch
up more this summer.”
Christopher Hadley, S. J. (A)
writes: “I took my first vows as a
Jesuit in August 2001 in Portland,
Oregon, and I have moved to the
Bronx to study philosophy and the
ology at Fordham University. I live
with 18 other Jesuit scholastics
and two priests in a converted
apartment building. Being in the
city for the terrorist attacks and
aftermath has been heart-rending,
but the beauty and goodness of
this place and its people have been
shining through. I would love to
hear from anyone, especially New
York Johnnies.” Hadley’s e-mail
address is
chrishadleyi@juno.com; his street
address is Ciszek Hall, 2502 Bel
mont Ave., Bronx, NY 10458.
Sean and Deborah Scalley (AGI)
have recently moved to 9107
Demery Court, Brentwood, TN
37027. Sean is university counsel
and tax attorney for Vanderbilt
University in Nashville. Deb is edi
tor of Bank Director Magazine.
1993
Thornton C. Lockwood, Jr.
(AGI) married Karen J Andrade,
Esq. on September 22. Kevin
(AGI 92) and Amy (Marcetti)
Topper (A98) attended the
wedding.
Jeffrey Natterman (AGI) now has
3 children: Elizabeth (ir), John
(7), and Sarah (S). He attends law
school at the University of Balti
a?
Studying Songbirds Passing By
(A94) writes: “After a forced exodus from
New Mexico, I am enrolled in the PhD program in Wildlife
Biology at the University of Montana in Missoula-hy-God,
Montana. I am attempting to model fitness parameters of
Neotropical migrant passerines (songbirds) with remotely-sensed
landscape data. Dry material, certainly, but I spend the summers in
central Idaho, which remains remarkably wild and pleasing to behold
(despite the locals). If any members of the St. John’s community are
passing through Missoula, please stop by and see me. A pot of pinto
beans is always on the stove, the coffee is the blackest in town, and
Tuesday is came adovada night.”
ndrew Kroll
A
more and specializes in constitu
tional law.
Jennifer Rychlik (SF) has
received her PhD in Microbiology
from Cornell University. She is
currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow
in the Department of Biochem
istry and Molecular Biology at
Oregon Health and Sciences Uni
versity in Portland, Ore. She can
be contacted at
rychlikj@ohsu.edu.
Claire Darling (SF) is living in
Portland, Ore., with her husband
Jim Magee. Their daughter Regan
(18 months) is talking lots. “What
a surprise!” Claire says.
1994
David M. Brooks (SF) writes: I
am currently living with my talent
ed partner of six years here in
south-east Florida, and complet
ing my pre-doctoral internship in
clinical psychology at the Universi
ty of Miami/Jackson Memorial
Medical Center in Miami, Fla.
Jeffrey Spencer Wright (SFGI)
received a National Endowment
for the Humanities Fellowship last
summer. He spent six weeks in
San Diego, Calif, participating in a
seminar on “Greek Values in Cri
sis: Thucydides, Sophocles, and
Plato,” and reported it to be a
wonderful experience.
1995
Richard Lee (AGI) writes: “I
thought it was about time that I
sent a note and update. I am living
in Atlanta and still working in edu
cation. This past year I was pro
moted to Vice-Principal of a small
private school located in the heart
of the city, Atlanta New Century
School. Our school is K - 8th grade
program. We would love to hear
from graduating Johnnies that are
interested in teaching, especially
at the middle school level. I am
easily reached at
Rlee857610@aol.com or
RichardL@atlantancs.com.”
Justin Maddox (A) writes: “I’ve
been working in various defense
positions since graduating, begin
ning with a Special Operations
stint in the Army. They sent me to
Russian school and gave me a fan
tastic haircut. After my Army
time, I did some policy work at the
Pentagon until I moved to Las
Vegas in ’99. In Vegas, I worked
for a company that does emer
gency response work. Last year
they moved me hack to DC, where
I work on security issues for the
NNSA (look it up). I began work
ing part-time on my master’s
degree at Georgetown in the fall.
It’s been wild. I hope everyone’s
doing well.”
April Walters (A) writes: “This
May I’ll be graduating from Tow
son University with a Master’s in
Professional Writing. I currently
continued on p. 31
{The College -5f. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�2,8
{Alumni Profile}
Reluctant Johnnie
For harpsichord maker Mark Adler, choosing St. John a was definitely not an act ofrebellion.
By SuS3AN Borden, A87
electronics; I took cars
apart. At St. John’s I
ne way I find
worked at a record shop on
likely sub
College Avenue, the Hi-Fi
jects for pro
Shop. I ended up repairing
files is to
ao to 30 hi-fis a week. It
thumb
was my undoing as a St.
through the
John’s student.”
St. John’s Alumni Register
While Adler may have
taking note of the unusual
devoted more time to
jobs included in the entries.
stereo repair than to study
Several years ago, the listing
ing,
his troubles at St.
for Mark Adler (A60), harpsi
John
’s had more to do with
chord maker, caught my eye. I
his background than his
later placed an asterisk next
interest in electronics.
to it and finally, this fall, I
While
it’s easy to imagine
decided to write to him and
that
the
son of Mortimer
ask if he’d be willing to be
Adler would breeze
profiled.
through St. John’s, this
He e-mailed to say he was
was
not the case, Adler
willing, and when I called him
faced
a number of stum
to set up an appointment for
bling blocks at the college.
an interview, he mentioned
The first was bred of famil
that he had not graduated
iarity.
from St. John’s.
“For my classmates, St.
“That’s okay,” I said.
John’s was a new experi“You’re still an alumnus.”
ence, a new way of think
“You know, I never wanted
After a start as an engineer, Adler wanted to do something more
ing,
” he recalls. “I was so
to go to St. John’s,” he said,
CREATIVE.
intimately
aware of the
perhaps to explain why he had
new program, its novel
n’t graduated.
Suddenly, I knew.
ness was not a stimulus for me.” Along
“No? Did you have a state scholarship?”
“
You
’
re
not...
”
I
said.
with
overexposure to the program came
I remembered that at one point, a Mary
“
Yes
I
am,
”
he
said.
the
problem
of Adler’s parents’ enthusiasm
land scholarship came with an assignment
“I had no idea.”
for the school. He points out that the age of
of the institution the recipient would
“It’s true,” he said. I started to laugh.
18 is not a good time to follow your parents’
attend. Maybe this assignment was a com
And
so
did
Mark
Adler,
the
son
of
the
late
vision
for your future.
plete mismatch for him.
Mortimer
Adler.
“
For
almost everyone I knew, coming to
“I didn’t have a scholarship, although
So that’s what he meant. Mark Adler
St. John’s was an act of rebellion,” he says.
my wife did,” he said. “But I didn’t want to
really hadn’t wanted to go to St. John’s-he
“They found something new and different
go to St. John’s.”
wanted
to
go
to
engineering
school.
But
and
interesting there, something their par
Unsure of what he meant, I tried to come
great books were in the family blood and
ents had not been exposed to and perhaps
up with an explanation: “You were one of
business. His father demanded he get a lib
did not find valuable. They showed their
those students who applied without know
eral education before specializing.
independence by going to St. John’s.”
ing what St. John’s was all about?” I
“
I
was
not
a
very
good
student,
but
I
was
In addition to asserting their independoffered.
always good with my hands,” Adler says of
ence, Adler’s classmates, like other young
“No, no,” he said gently. And then: “You
his interest in engineering. “I understood
adults, were also constructing their identireally don’t know who I am, do you?”
O
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{AlumniProfile}
2,9
Great books were in thefamily blood.
Hisfather demanded he get a
liberal education before specializing.
ties. But in the world of Great
Books, Adler’s identity was
assumed known. “I was not in the
position to forge my own path.
The senior members of St. John’s
were well known to me-the
deans, the president. Throughout
high school I more or less knew
them all. I was not anonymous as
a freshman.”
Adler was also keenly aware of
being measured against his father.
“It’s a problem when you have a
father who is very bright academi
cally,” he says. “It’s hard to follow
in that vein. I was not a good stu
dent, my interests lay elsewhere. I
loved the labs and was good in
math, but I’m not a great thinker.
I was not good in seminars. And
St. John’s brought me into an
environment where I was going to
K HANDBUILT HARPSICHORD MODELED ON AN i8tH CENTURY
be measured against my father.”
FLEMISH INSTRUMENT.
In December of his senior year,
Adler left St. John’s. At the time,
interestingly enough, tutor Dou
under contract before setting up shop on
glas Allanbrook suggested he work for
his own.
harpsichord maker William Dowd, but
He couldn’t have picked a better time.
Adler chose to work for General Electric.
“
The
great baroque revival was so strong,
“I stayed there for eight years before facing
the limits of my career,” he says. “I became you couldn’t avoid it,” he says. “Institu
tions had to have instruments, students
disillusioned with what I could do as an
had to have them, harpsichord-making was
engineer. The individual can do little, he’s
booming.
”
just one tiny cog in one gear, even in a
However, no matter how strong the
benevolent corporation.”
demand, hand-building fine instruments is
A stint at G.E.’s think tank showed him
labor-intensive; not the best way to make a
what was lacking: “I liked the work, it was
living. Married since 1962 to the former
new and interesting, but I found I wanted
Nancy Clark (A61), the Adlers had their
to do something a little more creative,” he
first child, Clark, in 1968. When they were
says. Fortunately, Adler already had some
expecting their second child. Winter, in
thing creative in the works-a relationship
1972, Adler set aside his harpsichord busi
with harpsichord maker Frank Hubbard,
ness and went into computer programming
which began in the late ’60s when Adler
to support his family.
built a harpsichord from one of Hubbard’s
In 1990, after his children were suffi
kits. Adler ended up working in Hubbard’s
ciently
launched, Adler returned to mak
studio, then built 12 instruments for him
ing harpsichords. Today his business.
Cembaloworks, specializes in
three regional instruments:
English, French, and Flemish.
The harpsichords are reproduc
tions of instruments found in
the Smithsonian. They range
from a small bentside spinet
costing $12,500 to a fully deco
rated late 18th-century Flemish
double manual instrument,
which costs close to $30,000.
The late i8th- century Flemish
harpsichord he keeps in his
workshop is rented out for con
certs and has seen most every
major player, including Pinchas
Zuckerman, Andreas Schiff,
and Sir Neville Mariner.
Although constructing
instruments is by far the most
satisfying part of his work,
Adler explains that most of his
business now comes from
repairs, tunings, and rentals.
Still, he tries to make one
instrument a year. “Good
instruments tend to last,” he says. “As a
result, every institution that wants one
already has one. That puts me in a mainte
nance mode.” Among his current clients
for maintenance and tuning are Douglas
Allanbrook and St. John’s College.
Adler came to Annapolis in 1956, under
protest, to study the liberal arts. Today, he
visits the campus several times a year to
practice his trade. Looking back, he says
that his St. John’s education was worth
while after all.
“Some analytic techniques stay with
you forever and get more and more valu
able as you get older,” he says. “Induction
and deduction-they’re important-and, by
gosh, we did learn them. Now I have to say
I do believe in getting a liberal education
first. Forty years later, I see it wasn’t a
mistake at all.
{The College* St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{AlumniProfile}
30
At The Improv
By SUS3AN Borden, A87
iscover. Take the unlikely
choice. Further the
action. These are some of
the guidelines of improvi
sational theater. Melinda
Skilondz (SF78), aveteran
of improv, has made them part of her
everyday life.
The guideline “discover” seems to
define her life, as she is forever investigat
ing interests, pursuing those she finds
inspirational. She decided to “take the
unlikely choice” early, when she chose to
leave St. John’s after one year to become a
mime. Shortly thereafter, she managed to
“further the action” when, working as a
waitress down the street from the Second
City Theater in Chicago, one of her cus
tomers (actor Dom DePollo) encouraged
her to join the group. Skilondz ran to the
theater during her next work break. That
very week she started attending workshops
with the improvisation-based company.
Skilondz spent four years with Second
City at a time when the company was regu
larly furnishing actors for the cast of “Sat
urday Night Live.” For Skilondz, who
worked with the theater’s touring compa
ny, it was the beginning of a lifetime in
improv.
Improvisation refers to all forms of act
ing without a script, where the performers
invent both dialogue and action. Today’s
most popular example is the TV show
“Whose Line Is It Anyway?”, where each
performance is short and comedy is the
focus. Improv, however, can be practiced
across the entire range of theater, from the
height of slapstick to the depths of tragedy.
In 1981, Skilondz auditioned for a proj
ect with Chicago’s Organic Theater, which
was then developing an emergency room
drama. She won a part with the company
and helped develop the characters and
script of “E.R.”-the stage show from
which the hit TV series would later be
drawn.
Skilondz describes the method used for
developing the production: “Dr. Ron
Berman collected the most common emer
gency room stories: the overweight
teenage girl who doesn’t realize she’s preg
nant, the bag lady hypochondriac, the doc
tor who has to fight the hospital to care for
patients who have no insurance, the nurse
taking a business administration course in
Melinda Skilondz: Is life like theater?
search of a better job, the guy who signs
out against medical advice. The company
did scenario improvisations based on each
story and the script was written based on
the material they came up with. With that
script, rehearsals started, but before the
opening there was an intense preview peri
od where the writers would interview the
audience after the show, then rewrite the
script based on their comments. They
brought a lot of hospital workers to the
audience to help make it more real, more
honest.”
As it turned out, the intense preview
period was well worth the effort. The show
was a huge success. “They’d sell out the
house to certain hospitals,” recalls Skilo
ndz. “We’d have St. Joseph’s night, Evangehcal Deaconess night. The hospital work
ers would be crying, laughing, screaming.
I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Skilondz played several roles in the stage
show: the shaken child’s mother, the
ambulance driver, the float nurse, the
pregnant teenager-all young characters.
Unfortunately, when it was time to audition
for the E.R. television show, she was 25 and
too old to play her roles on TV.
When “E.R.” finally closed, Skilondz
found a job with a children’s theater in
Michigan and not long after was able to
study in California with Viola Spolin, con
sidered the mother of improv.
Skilondz took in all Spohn had to teach,
and was particularly drawn to what are
known as Spolin games-improvisational
games that have uses beyond the theater,
often in education and therapy settings.
“The Spolin games are circle games, they
keep everyone on an even playing field. The
group leader is part of the community, not
the boss. This is an important technique in a
learning situation, particularly when you’re
working with teenagers,” she says.
It also proved important when Skilondz
was hired to direct a show at a medium
security prison. “It was a huge success,”
she reports. “There were lots ofVietnam
veterans involved. The games open you up;
you really can’t hide behind barriers.”
WTiile Skilondz has remained fascinated
by the world of improv, she has maintained
a number of other “dayjobs” and projects
that have provided both food for the table
and food for thought. Her day jobs have
run the gamut from waiting tables and
doing data entry to booking comedians and
working with film production companies.
Today, she works with a mortgage broker at
a police academy, helping newly trained
police officers buy their first homes.
In 1988 Skilondz started “The Melinda
Show,” a public access cable interview
show that’s gone through several metamor
phoses. The show’s early successes were
video collages based on interviews with
musicians. For a time, she featured the
work of comedians. Now she uses it as a
platform for covering charity benefits.
After studying improv for more than a
quarter of a century, Skilondz is tempted to
live her life by its principles. However, she
warns, that’s not always the best choice.
“In improv, you get used to playing openly,
but when you do it in real life, it’s not that
great of a strategy,” she says. “After a while
you learn to use it judiciously.”
Still, Skilondz sees the principles of
improv at play in a number of settings:
“The seminar at St. John’s has a lot in com
mon with improvisation because of the way
that everyone is included, everyone’s view
point is respected. I really appreciate that
kind of openness, not learning by rote, but
by discovery. You discover the scene as you
go along.” On stage and in seminar, she
explains, when you take the unlikely
choice, it’s going to be more interesting.
Skilondz invites any Johnnies with inter
ests in improv and skills in web design
and coding to join her in launching
improvgames.com, an interactive web site
where visitors can explore improv onhne.
Her e-mail is melindyrose@juno.com. ->■
{The College- St. John’s College • Winter/Spring sooa }
�{AlumniNotes}
continuedfrom p. 21
work at the Maryland Institute
College of Art as the Writing Stu
dio Coordinator. My rarely updat
ed (in actuality-in my mind it’s
quite current) webpage is still at
http://www.webptxie.com/ and
people can write to me at
april @webpixie .com.”
Emily Murphy (A) writes: “I’m
happily settled in Salem, Mass.“The Witch City” as it proudly caUs
itself. I’m in the PhD program in
American and New England Studies
at Boston University and really
enjoying myself. I’d love to hear
from any Boston area Johnnies. My
e-mail is eamurphy@bu.edu.”
1996
Stella Marie Schindler (AGI)
has recently released a debut CD
“New Horizon.” She encourages
classmates to check it out at amazon.com or contact her at www. stellaschindler.com. “Haven’t quit my
dayjob, though,” she writes. “Am
still a high school teacher in the
Washington, D.C., area.”
“After a couple of rainy years
drinking beer and going to movies
in Portland, Oregon, I’m studying
law at Columbia Law School in
NYC,” writes Renate Lunn (A). “I
spent last summer working for the
international criminal tribunal for
Rwanda in Tanzania and I’ll spend
next semester studying at the Cen
tral European University in
Budapest. If you want to distract
me from my homework, e-mail
me: KLJ135@columbia.edu.”
1997
Owen Gabriel Hoggard, the sec
ond child of Lee (A) and Melina
Hoggard (Aoo) was born on
August 10 in Helsinki where the
Hoggards now live.
Taffeta Elliott (SF) is a gradu
ate student in neuroscience at
Columbia and spent last summer
at the Marine Biological Laborato
ry at Woods Hole, Mass.”
Jessica McAllen (SF) married
Lowry McAllen on August 35,
2001 in Corrales, N.M. They
now manage a sheep farm in
Wisconsin.
1998
The parents of Deirdre O’Shea
(A) write in with the latest news:
“Deirdre has traveled far since her
graduation. For about two years
she worked for Walker
Digital/Priceline until her divi
sion evaporated 18 months ago. At
that point, she went to Thailand to
visit her cousin, and also traveled
through Cambodia and Vietnam.
She returned to New York in Janu
ary 3001 to announce that she was
going to stay in Cambodia for a
few years. Some of you may
remember that she worked in a
bakery in Annapolis during her
last two years of school.
Well...Deirdre has opened her own
bakery in Sihanoukville in Cambo
dia. She works with two American
physical therapists who are taking
care of disabled children and
adults. Deirdre’s bakery provides
employment and training for some
of their clients. They are all part of
a larger project called “Starfish”
which also helps the “orphaned
elderly” who lost their children to
the Khmer Rouge. She loves visi
tors. In fact, her brother Brian,
cousin Kevin, high school friend
Laurel, and Matt Braithwaite
(A97) flew to see her for Christ
mas. She gets her mail at The
Angkor Inn, Sihanoukville, King
dom of Cambodia.”
1999
Tallie Don Maule Taylor (SF)
proposed to Corey Amber RudNICK (SF 00) on October 30th on
the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.
The wedding date is still to be
determined. Mr. Taylor, a regis
tered associate at Salomon Smith
Barney, is pursuing his MBA at
New York University; Ms. Rudnick
is in her second year at Fordham
Law where she writes for the Intel
lectual Property Journal and
works for ASCAP. The couple lives
in Brooklyn with their two house
pets, Kippy (the better-fed
favorite) and Patrick Martin
Nash (SF97).
Carisa Armendariz Petrie (SF)
writes: “Geoff Petrie (SF or) and
I were married on October 13,
2001 in El Paso, Tex. Geoff is the
media director at Nuclear Watch
of New Mexico, and I am a math
teacher at Santa Fe High School.
We plan to honeymoon when fife
settles down a bit.”
Last October I just finished a gru
eling and exciting Peace Corps
service in the Islamic Repubhc of
Mauritania,” writes Damian
Richard (A).“I lived and worked
in a little village among the Pulaar
people of the Senegal River. They
learned about wells and I about
their beautiful traditions and hos
pitality. I was surprised to run into
a Johnnie in Mauritania, our Peace
Corps Country Director, Kateri
Clement (A87). Now I am off to
San Francisco to check out gradu
ate schools and find work.”
2000
Michael Fisher (A) writes: “Hey
Gang! Just a note to all you with
inquiring minds: Yes I do have two
adopted boys, Enoch Seth (3) and
Methuselah Uz Fisher (5)-good
kids from the South, I think. We
generally take turns reading The
Fountainhead aloud or the boys
design business cards for me-I’m
still unemployed! Write me a note
to say when you can visit our shan
ty and remember to bring your
own drinking water. All the best! ”
Elisabeth Batchelder (A)
writes: “Here I am in Ohio, pretty
well settled. The school is huge
(800 students) compared to where
I taught last year (100 students)
and not too many of the kids have
a burning desire to learn Latin.
But they’re learning, whether
they like it or not, and I’m hoping
they occasionally enjoy them
selves.” Elisabeth’s e-mail is
erbatchelder@juno.com
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
31
Sandy Green (A) is in his first
year of medical school at Temple
University in Philadelphia.
“From what I have seen,” he
writes, “BA’s do make better
MD’s than BS’s, especially gra
duates from SJC.”
2001
David Jennings (A) is now at Ford
ham University working on his
master’s degree.
Talley Scroggs (A) is still in
Annapolis working at Chez Amis
B&B. She tutors French classes in
D.C. at the Alliance Frangaise. She
spent the summer in L’Ecole
Frangaise at Middlebury College.
Gregory Bamford (SFGI) is
teaching English and humanities
at the Hawken School in Cleve
land, Ohio.
Calling All Alumni
The College wants to hear from
you. Call us, write us, e-mail us.
Let your classmates know what
you’re doing. The next issue will
be published in July; copy deadline
is June i.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Box 3800. Annapohs,
MD 31404; h-goyette@sjca.edu.
In Santa Fe:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Public Relations Office,
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa
Fe, NM 87505-4599;
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu.
Alumni Notes on the Web:
Read Alumni Notes and contact
The College on the web at:
www.sjca.edu - click on “Alumni.”
�32
{Alumni Association News}
From the Alumni
Association
President
One experience is common to all alumni
of St. John’s-the leaving of it. All of us
remember stepping off the campus and
into what we had come to call the “real
world.” Some of us took this step before
graduation, and some after. Some of us left
eagerly, and others reluctantly. Some of us
moved on to well-planned work or further
learning, and others followed more wind
ing paths. Each of us has moved, is moving,
or will move through this time of transi
tion, and all of us approach it with mixed
emotions.
My own experience of leaving the col
lege was shaped by economic necessity-I
needed a job. I knew I wanted to teach, but
I had no idea where or how. In those olden
days, before the Placement Offices were
established, I depended on the people I
knew for help. Burch Ault (HS83), then
Vice President of the college and my fresh
man seminar tutor, gave me sage advice
and the names and phone numbers of pri
vate schools that might be interested in hir
ing me and teaching me to teach. One
offered me a contract, and my first career
was launched.
A challenging and stable job did not
resolve all of my anxieties about separating
from the college. I found myself lonely for a
good conversation, isolated from the edu
cational experiences of others, confused
about how the ideals of the books could be
translated into the reality of life. It took
several years, a wonderful non-Johnny hus
band, and many long-distance phone con
versations with thoughtful friends to shift
my focus from the transitions of the past
into the possibilities of the future. Stimu
lating Homecoming reunions at five-year
intervals helped mark my progress. Receiv
ing the Alumni Register and reading the
Reporter helped me keep in touch with the
community and to remember that it contin
ued even when I was not in contact daily.
Through the years. I’ve had other transi
tions of place and work. At each juncture I
returned to my friends in the college com
munity for advice or reassurance, and they
always came through. Michael Woolsey
(A65) pointed me toward the Association
for Women in Computing. Alan McVay
(SF76) and Charlie Weber (SF77) checked
out some property for me in Santa Fe. Joan
Bogucki (A87) tamed the bookkeeping jun
gle that was my first company. Bill Tilles
(A59) shares intriguing insights with me
about organizations and the people who
make them tick. The list goes on and on.
I have come to think of the St. John’s
College community as a network of wildly
diverse individuals who share a common
passion for books and the conversations
they engender. I know that this community
continues to exist regardless of whether or
not I call upon it. I know that it is there to
receive support I offer in the form of volun
teer time, information, or financial
resources. I also know that it will be there
to respond to my questions, concerns, or
need for support.
That time of leave-taking from the col
lege was confusing and difficult for me, but
I also realize that it was a time rich with
discovery and learning. In many ways the
questions of Montaigne, Hume, Kant, and
Socrates were clearer to me in the world’s
context of action than they had been in the
student’s context of reading, talking, and
writing. During that time I lived in and
with the questions of the books. I thought
about my experiences as filters for my
learning, and I thought about the learning
as filters for experience. In many ways the
years of searching and stretching, which
are not yet finished, are a continuation of
the education that began at the college. My
current connections with the St. John’s
community and my Johnnie friends contin
ue to enrich my life of learning and growth.
The Alumni Association Board has spent
a good bit of time lately talking about this
turbulent time for alumni and what, if any
thing, the Association should do to help
younger alumni navigate these rough
waters of transition. The Placement Offices
at the college do a lot to help today’s graduates-everything from running internship
programs, to researching graduate schools,
to running forums on various careers. The
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Whether from Annapolis or Santa Fe, under
graduate or Graduate Institute, Old Program
or New, graduated or not, all alumni have
automatic membership in the St. John’s Col
lege Alumni Association. The Alumni Associa
tion is an independent organization, with a
Board of Directors elected by and from the
alumni body. The Board meets four times a
year, twice on each campus, to plan programs
and coordinate the affairs of the Association.
This newsletter within The College magazine
is sponsored by the Alumni Association and
communicates Alumni Association news and
events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary-Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-the-Word-Out Action Team ChairLinda Stabler-Talty (SFGI76)
Web site - www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Mailing address - Alumni Association, St.
John’s College, Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404 or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe,
NM 87505-4599.
Placement directors assist not only stu
dents in Annapolis and Santa Fe, but also
alumni (check out their web pages at
www.sjca.edu and www.sjcsf for the many
job listings and helpful contacts they post).
To complement these efforts, the Alumni
Association has established a new Action
Team called Next Steps. Its goal is to
design and implement programs that will
help alumni provide support to other alum
ni as they move out of daily contact with
the community and into a life-long rela
tionship in which the college experience is
integrated into the rest of a productive life.
We on the Alumni Association Board and
on the Next Steps Action Team would like
to hear from you. What is the story of your
transition? What do you think the Alumni
Association or individual alumni could do
to help make this turbulent time as fruitful
as possible? Please take a moment and
share your thoughts with us via -emad. We
look forward to strengthening the network
in which each of us is able to give and
receive the gifts of learning and friendship.
For the past, the present, and the future,
{The College. 5t. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
Glenda Eoyang SF76
Eoyang@chaos-limited.com
President
St. John’s College Alumni Association
�{Alumni Association News}
Eastern Classic
FOR THE Far East
Southern California alumni
gather to readMencius
By Melinda Skilondz, SF78
Southern California Johnnies met in Janu
ary to discuss Mencius, a Chinese disciple
of Confucius circa 400 BC. Seminar lead
ers were Santa Fe president John Balkcom
and Graduate Institute director Frank
Pagano. We met in Los Angeles with the
gracious help of Elizabeth Eastman
(SFGI84) and Susan Allen (SFGI89).
A bit reminiscent of Machiavelli and
Plato, Mencius discusses political ques
tions such as the qualities of a good king.
Frank Pagano, who is GI director and has
taught in the Eastern Classics program,
posed the opening question: “Is this book
an ‘attack on profit’?”
The group of approximately 30 alumni f
engaged in a spirited discussion that cov
ered the whole spectrum of viewpoints,
including “strategy for strategy’s sake,” a
personal favorite of mine.
The issue of long term versus short term
profit was discussed. Is it justifiable to earn
profit with unfair working conditions if a
final portion of the profits is used for phil
anthropic purposes?
A discussion of the “goods are good”
theory was helpful, but frankly, in the wake
of the Enron scandal, it was hard to stom
ach the thought that mere wealth accumu
lation had any morality whatsoever.
The Arthurian concept of the king’s hap
piness reflecting the happiness of the land
was noted; for people living in a simpler
society the king’s life might be a great
source of entertainment or a barometer of
the society’s well-being. (Or, as Eric Idle
says so aptly in “The Life of Brian.” “ow,
didn’t know we ‘ad a king! ”)
33
Thankfully, Jesus was brought into the
discussion, providing an alternative to the
notion that simple profit is the only motive
for society.
The topics of benevolence and respect
for elders were also raised. I found Men
cius’s theory of profit leading to benevo
lence suspicious, although the king’s hon
esty about fondness for money and women
was refreshing.
Is it possible that someone can be edu
cated to become compassionate? Does the
king embody wealth, and/or the command
of the wealth? Is he the dawn of leisure
activities? And is leisure not necessarily in
the equation for the peasants? I found the
idea of the philosopher trolling the king for
a “job” enjoyable.
I can’t help thinking as I edit this piece
while watching the winter Olympics that a
good Johnnie seminar is not unlike an
Olympics of original thinking. Mencius
grabs the gold, and all of us have profited
from the Finally, the Thai food was great!
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter^ reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
505-^75-9012
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin
410-280-0958
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
215-465-0244
PITTSBURGH
Robert Hazo
412-648-2653
AUSTIN
Jennifer Chenoweth
512-482-0747
PORTLAND
Dale Mortimer
360-882-9058
BALTIMORE
Deborah Cohen
410-472-9158
SACRAMENTO
Helen Hobart
916-452-1082
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
619-423-4972
SAN FRANCISCO,
NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Jon Hodapp
831-393-9496
SANTA FE
John Pollak
505-983-2144
SEATTLE
Amina Stickford
206-269-0182
CHICAGO
Lorna Anderson
773-338-8651
DENVER
Lee Goldstein
720-283-4659
LOS ANGELES
Elizabeth Eastman
562-426-r934
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Carol Freeman
612-822-3216
Jonathan Zavin (A68)(left) and Keth Harrison (SF77)(right), both alumni members of
THE Board of Visitors and Governors, participated in the inauguration ceremony for
President John Balkcom in Santa Fe in January. Board members wore academic gowns,
WHICH THEY DONNED IN THE NEW WEIGHT ROOM OF THE STUDENT ACTIVITIES CENTER.
NEWYORK
Fielding Dupuy
212-974-2922
NORTH CAROLINA
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
{The College -Sf. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
WASHINGTON DC
Jean Dickason
301-699-6207
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
972-2-6717608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�{Book Review}
34
QUESTIONING HISTORY
Mary Palevsky g^rew up ililukiriy the atomic bomb was a mistake—one that
herparents, who worked on the Manhattan Project, helped to create.
By Mark Sanfilippo, SFGIoo
n Mary Palevsky’s (SF74) book Atomic Frag
ments: A DaughtePs Questions (University of
California Press, 2000), we are witness to (and
participant in) her jonrney to come to terms with
what Joseph Rotblat in his 1995 Nobel lecture
referred to as a “splendid achievement of science
and technology turned malign.”
I
Palevsky’s parents worked on
the development of the atomic
homh during World War II; fol
lowing the bombing of Hiroshi
ma both left the Manhattan
Project and never returned to
the development of war tech
nology. Her father expressed
deep regret over America’s use
of the bomb and Mary grew up
believing deeply that deploy
ment of the bomb was in fact a
mistake. She believed along
with her parents that the United
States should have provided a
demonstration to the emperor
of Japan of the city-destroying
power of the bomb, thus avoid
ing the deaths of some 150,000
Japanese civihans, not counting
those who died after the initial
blast from injuries or fallout.
Atomic Fragments is, among
other things, a fascinating
mixture of genres. It is at once
a very personal journal writ
ten by a woman attempting to come to
terms with the death of her parents and
what their lives may or may not have stood
for, and at the same time it exists as an inti
mate look into the different ways in which
ATOMIC
FRAGMENTS
participants in the Manhattan Project
dealt with (and continue to deal with) the
development and utilization of a weapon
that has the potential to destroy our
species. Through the course of these
“daughter’s questions,” Palevsky talks
with Hans Bethe, Edward Teller, Joseph
Rotblat, Herbert York, Philip Morrison,
Robert Wilson, and philosopher David
Hawkins, each of whom provides insights
into various aspects of the project. We
gain an insider’s look into themes ranging
from fears about the likelihood of the
bomb setting the Earth’s atmosphere on
fire, to Niels Bohr’s desperate attempt to
circumvent what he saw as an inevitable
arms race through the establishment of an
international committee to control the
development of nuclear arms.
During the course of the book Palevsky’s
questions and focus sharpen. Themes
emerge and develop as she pushes the
interviewees (albeit politely) to elaborate
on their answers and opinions. Of particu
lar interest is the sharp division that arises
between those who chose to leave the proj
ect and those whose chose to stay. Hans
Bethe, for example, explains that he stayed
on the project in the hopes that by being
privy to developments that were taking
place he might have some ability to control
them. After the war he served on a Presi
dential advisory committee and was a
leader in the effort to ban nuclear
weapons. He says; “Anyway, it would be a
totally different matter from Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. And from the word go, that
is, immediately after the Japanese surren
der, I was completely devoted to arms con
trol to preventing nuclear war.”
On the other hand, Joseph Rotblat, who
initially joined the Manhattan Project out
of a fear that the Germans were developing
a nuclear bomb, left the project in 1944
when it became clear that not only did the
Germans not have the bomb, but in fact
their entire bomb project was kaput.
Palevsky’s search possesses a compelhng
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Book Review}
35
THE BOOK AS SEMINAR
How a book got started, and where its story led
By Mark Sanfilippo, SFGIoo
O how does one go from Johnnie
to grad student to acclaimed
author to the subject of a docu
mentary film directed hy a
famous Japanese director? For
Mary Palevsky, the story begins at the Field
ing Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara,
where she was doing dissertation work for
her doctoral degree in Human Develop
ment. Prepared as a narrative investigation,
the dissertation eventually turned into an
honest-to-goodness full-length book. “St.
John’s gave me the ability to really look at
both sides of an argument” (the pro- and Mary Palevsky
anti-nuclear bomb factions) and “to be truly
curious about how each side arrived at its
respective conclusion,” she says. St. John’s tale is unique and presents, in a new and
spurred a healthy curiosity about why peo fresh way, a story that continues to haunt
ple think what they do and she finds this us. She’s literally traveled the country,
curiosity at its peak when a person’s opin going from major universities to bookstores
ions are the opposite of her own. With a and small colleges, talking with people
book, of course, Palevsky knew she could about her journey of discovery. She’s had
reach a much larger audience and thus get the chance to engage professors, teachers,
the arguments circulating in a much larger students, and people from all walks of life in
the conversation.
“seminar.”
While in North Carolina to give a talk,
With the help of friends and colleagues
Palevsky
met another person who was to
Palevsky got her dissertation to the Univer
help
her
take
this series of questions yet fur
sity of California Press. Stanley Holwitz, the
ther.
In
an
elevator
she noticed the fabric on
assistant director, asked her if she would
the
suit
of
a
woman
who was standing in
like him to show the book to some people.
front
of
her.
She
complimented
the woman
She thought he just meant some people
on
her
suit
just
as
the
latter
was
noticing
(note the subtlety). In reality he was passing
Mary
carrying
a
copy
of
Atomic
Fragments.
the book to the review committee. Before
she even knew that she should be nervous, The woman with the good taste in suit fab
Palevsky’s book was given the green light ric was professor Kayoko Yoshida, a visiting
scholar at Columbia. She teaches English
and was on its way to publication.
Atomic Fragments was well-received. In and, after talking with Palevsky about the
retrospect it seems quite natural that peo book, decided to translate Atomic Frag
ple wanted to hear from her in person; her ments into Japanese.
S
Yet again this daughter’s search would
grow to reach a wider audience and open
the discussion to a round table possessing a
much larger circumference. As it turned
out, Yoshida happened to know acclaimed
Japanese film director Yoshihiko Muraki.
She told him about the book and he found
the story fascinating. Unfortunately he
couldn’t read English, so Yoshida then
began translating as fast as she could so that
Muraki could read the material. Palevsky
ended up e-mailing summaries of key chap
ters to be translated, which were then
passed along to Muraki.
Muraki soon knew that he wanted to
make a film about Mary, her parents, and
her narrative exploration of the bomb ques
tion. After a sufficient amount of negotia
tion, the film was finally shot in conjunc
tion with NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai-the
equivalent of the BBC in Japan) and
released in August in Japan. A stateside
release is planned in the near future. They
filmed her at her home in Ojai, back east at
her childhood home, at the bomb test site in
Alamogordo, New Mexico, and also at St.
John’s in Santa Fe.
One can only imagine what it must have
felt like for this daughter of Manhattan Pro
ject scientists to stand and talk about her
unique viewpoint with a Japanese filmmak
er at the bomb test site in the desert.
Palevsky’s childhood questions have grown
up and matured along with her, and have
stretched and expanded from her mind to
those around her, to those directly involved
in the Manhattan Project, then to the American public, and now to Japan as well.
Questioning History...
dynamic. Throughout the course of the
book she becomes increasingly open to new
ways of comprehending man’s develop
ment of nuclear arms and the effect they
have had on the human race. Her tone is
diplomatic, and while we know from the
outset what her views are, she still treats
each person’s viewpoint fairly and with
utmost respect. True to the nature of the
questions asked, she walks away without a
clear answer, but a real triumph of the book
is that she successfully brings to light the
seemingly necessary ambiguity in Ameri
ca’s decision to develop and use the nuclear
bomb. Mary Palevsky presents to us,
through her personal insights and the
thoughts and feelings of those working on
the Manhattan Project, a fine addition to
the exploration of the historical and moral
gravity of this scientific revolution.
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{BookReview}
3®
BIBLIOFILE
A selection ofbooks written by great books readers.
t. John’s alumni not only like to the capacity of leaders and facilitators of
read books-they seem to have a organization and system change to adapt to
deep passion for writing them as the complexity inside and outside of their
well, heedless of the sometimes- systems.
expressed worry that they won’t
What I’d Say: The Atlantic Story
attempt to write an extended piece because
(class of i(j44)
they have for comparison the mostAhmet
imporErtegun
Welcome
Rain
Publishers
tant and most beautiful books ever written.
Here is a sampling of the many works by This coffee-table book by Ertegun, founder
Johnnie authors, representing every genre of Atlantic Records, covers six decades of
and discipline from memoir to corporate music-making history with anecdotes from
Ertegun, recording artists, and music
self-help.
industry
colleagues. Musicians with the
Periodically, The College will list or
Atlantic
label
include Ray Charles, John
review alumni books. Please send notice of
Coltrane,
Bobby
Darin, the Drifters, Aretha
books published, or review copies (which
will be donated to the library’s alumni Franklin, Mabel Mercer, Wilson Pickett,
author collection) for consideration, to: The and Sarah Vaughan.
S
College Magazine, St. John’s College, Box
2800, Annapolis, MD 21404.
The Insanity Factory: A Psychiatric Memoir
By Joshua Berlow (SF81)
iUniverse.com
Insanity Factory Xi a peekbehind the scenes
of ’80s America. It addresses such issues as
the implications of “for-profit” healthcare,
the connection between school curricula
and the behavior of children, and the “war
between the sexes.”
Strategic Renaissance: New Thinking and
Innovative Tools for Creating Great
Corporate Strategies...Using Insights
FROM History and Science
Evan Dudik (A7‘2)
AMATOM
Dudik’s book proposes to demonstrate
why “sustainable competitive advantage”
doesn’t work and how it should be replaced
with “opportunity creation and exploita
tion.” By applying his techniques, compa
nies should be able to create a strategic ren
aissance as they enter a new era of business.
Facilitating Organization Change:
Lessons from Complexity Science
Edwin E. Olson and Glenda H. Eoyang
(SF16)
John Wiley & Sons
This book presents concepts about complex
adaptive systems (CAS) that will increase
Somewhere South of Here: A Novel
William Kowalski (SF(j4)
HarperCollins
In this sequel to his highly-praised first
novel, Eddie’s Bastard. Kowalski continues
the story of Billy Mann as he travels to Santa
Fe to find the mother who gave him away as
a baby.
Postfoundational Phenomenology:
Husserlian Reflections on Presence and
Embodiment
By James R. Mensch (A66)
Penn Sate Press
This book offers a fresh look at Husserl’s
philosophy as a nonfoundational approach
to understanding the self as an embodied
presence.
Radical Visions: Stringfellow Barr, Scott
Buchanan, and Their Efforts on Behalf of
Education and Politics in the Twentieth
Century
By Charles A. Nelson (class ofig45)
Greenwood Publishing Group
This book tells the story of the life-long
friendship and collaboration of New Pro
gram founders Barr and Buchanan. Its three
sections, “Partners in Creation,” “Friends
in Adversity,” and “Carrying on Apart and
Together,” include discussions of Barr’s
attack from the McCarthyites, Buchanan’s
five-month visit to the kibbutzim of Israel,
and their extensive writings.
Judas: Images of the Lost Disciple
Kim Paffenroth (A88)
Westminster John Knox Press
Paffenroth’s book traces the development
of the stories about the most famous traitor
in the history of Western Civihzation. Its
purpose is not to find the Judas of history,
but to provide readers with a map or family
tree that shows the similarities and connec
tions between generations of Judas’ story.
From Calcutta with Love: The World
War II Letters of Richard and Reva Beard
Edited by Elaine Pinkerton (SFGI88)
Texas Tech University Press
Elaine Pinkerton has edited a collection of
letters sent to her mother by her father, who
was serving in Calcutta during World War
IL A series of essays by Pinkerton about the
letters appear throughout the book.
My Father, My Daughter: Pilgrims on the
Road to Santiago
By Maria Schell and Donald Schell (SF68)
Church Publishing Incorporated
Donald Schell, rector of Saint Gregory of
Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco,
and his daughter, writer and journalist
Maria Schell, write of their physical trek
across Spain and of their spiritual journey
of discovery of the self and of the other.
They discover the way of the pilgrim: full of
unexpected and challenging bumps and
detours, humorous turns, and moments of
grace.
Ptolemy and the Foundations of Ancient
Mathematical Optics : A Source Based
Guided Study
A. Mark Smith (A67)
American Philosophical Society
Smith traces the development of ancient
ray-theory from its earliest systematic artic
ulation at the very beginning of the third
century B.C. to its culmination in the late
second century A.D. Built of four cardinal
sources: Euclid’s Optics and Catoptrics.
Hero of Alexandria’s Catoptrics and Ptole
my’s Optics, the monograph introduces
readers to key issues in ancient mathemati
cal optics.
{The College- St. John’s College • }Vinter/Spring zoos }
�{Obituaries}
Richard W. Barton
Class ofiQ4O
Richard W. Barton, an attorney with the Office
of the Corporation Counsel for 35 years, died in
December. Mr. Barton was born in Asheville,
N.C. He was educated at Christ School in
Arden, N.C., at St. John’s College, and at the
National University Law School, where he
received his LLB in I94r and LLM in 1943.
During World War II, he worked as an intelli
gence officer at the British Embassy in Wash
ington, D.C. He then joined the Office of the
Corporation Counsel, where he served in many
divisions, including Criminal, Juvenile, and
Civil Proceedings. From 1956 until he retired in
1980 he served with the Appellate Division,
and for 13 years he was chief of that division.
After he retired, Mr. Barton was appointed a
magistrate for the 17th Judicial District of Vir
ginia in Arlington County. He retired in 1988
when he moved to Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Mr. Barton was a lay reader at St. George’s
Episcopal Church. He is survived by his wife,
Joanna, and by a son, a daughter, two sisters,
two brothers, and numerous nieces and
nephews.
William Nealy
Class of1^76
I regret to inform the college community of the
death ofWilliam Nealy (SF), a writer, cartoon
ist, avid outdoorsman, and author of ten books
and innumerable illustrations. He died on July
19th, 2001. He was 47 years old. He is survived
by his wife, Holland Wallace, who shared his
life for more than 30 years.
A world-famous cartoonist, William is best
known for his groundbreaking book Kayak,
which combined, to both hilarious and practi
cal effect, expert paddling instructions and art
ful caricatures and parodies of the whitewater
enthusiasts themselves. The quality of his work
transcends its subject; this book, and the oth
ers which followed, spawned a host of imita
tors, and made William a cult living legend in
the world of outdoor sports.
In an autobiographical introduction to his
recently published anthology. The Nealy (Gay
ofKnowledge William wrote of his year at St.
John’s, which he applied to after dropping out
of high school in Birmingham, Alabama, and
knocking about England as a countercultural
cartoonist: “St. John’s had a great search and
rescue team which I immediately joined. It was
my first opportunity to do some real climbing
and mountaineering. Ironically, I had just suc
cessfully dodged the Draft and suddenly I found
myself jumping out of Huey helicopters onto
mountaintops on paramilitary-style ‘missions’!
“As members of the S&R team, we learned
how to rappel, treat hypothermia, spbnt bro
ken bones, and, in general, how to deal with
wilderness trauma (usually our own!). My expe
riences in New Mexico were the beginning of
what has become a lifelong interest in anatomy,
kinetics, and emergency medicine. Paramedic
training has made it easier for me to visualize
the physiology and body mechanics required to
learn and to illustrate the complex physical
moves involved in adventure sports. I can also
envision the first aid procedures I will need to
repair my buddies and myself while learning.”
William’s father died after his freshman year
and he did not return to the college. William’s
diverse interests ranged from fly-fishing to
rock climbing, criminology, geology, military
history, spelunking, metaphysics, archery and
tree surgery. All contributed to his cartooning.
As his obituary atwww.williamnealy.com says:
He brought a thorough and rigorous intelli
gence to his interests and avocations, all of
which, in his hands, became arts.
—NealAllen, SFyfi
John E. Robson
Member ofthe Board
John E. Robson, former chairman and member
of the Board of Visitors and Governors, died in
Washington, D.G., on March 20 after a sixmonth battle with cancer. He was 71.
At the time of his death, Robson was president
and chairman of the Export-Import Bank, a posi
tion he assumed in May 2001 after being appoint
ed by President Bush. The bank is a government
agency that provides loans to U.S. corporations
to support their sales to foreign countries.
Robson joined the coUege’s Board in 1973, and
served with distinction for almost thirty years,
including as chairman from 1983 to 1985. He
was named an Honorary Alumnus in 1999.
Along with his wife, Margaret, he was deeply
committed to the college. As a generous con
tributor to St. John’s, Robson was instrumental
in securing scholarships for students on both
campuses, as well as funding for the Student
Activities Genter in Santa Fe. As a candidate for
the presidency on the Santa Fe campus, he
credited former Annapolis Dean Robert Goldwin for involving him in St. John’s. He wrote in
his application that “what attracted me to St.
John’s was the Program and the ferocious dedi
cation of the college to conferring on its stu
dents the inestimably valuable capacity to ana
lyze and think for themselves, orderly and
rationally, about any issue.” He consistently
maintained that if learning to think is what a
college education is about, no program does it
as well as St. John’s. Gommitted to continued
learning, he participated in many seminars,
including those specifically developed for the
Board and the Summer Glassies program in
Santa Fe, where the Robsons have a home.
In his biography distributed to Board mem
bers, Robson said: “I never set my cap to be
one thing. If there is a theme in my life, it is
starting something or changing things.”
37
Indeed, his professional endeavors ranged from
law, to business, to government service. After
graduating from Yale and then Harvard Law
School, he was a partner and associate at Liebman, Williams, Bennett, Baird & Minow. He
opened the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He
joined the just-established Department of
Transportation in the Johnson Administration
and became its second ranking officer in the
late rpbos. From 1975 to 1977, he served as
Chairman of the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board,
where he initiated airline deregulation.
His business endeavors also were successful.
In 1978, he joined G.D. Searle & Co. as Execu
tive Vice President. He served as CEO and
President of the Fortune 500 pharmaceutical
firm until 1986. He then became Dean and Pro
fessor of Management at Emory University’s
School of Business Administration. In 1989,
government service again lured him and he was
appointed Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Trea
sury in the first Bush administration. From
1993 on, he taught and served as Visiting Fel
low at a number of institutions, including the
Yale School of Organization and Management,
the Hoover Institution at Stanford, and The
Heritage Foundation.
In addition to his work on the St. John’s
Board, he was a member of the board of the
University of California at San Francisco Foun
dation. His corporate directorships included
Monsanto Company, Northrop Grumman Cor
poration, Rand McNally & Co., and the Securi
ty Capital Industrial Trust.
Robson pursued his hobbies with an intensity
equal to that of his professional life. He loved
fly-fishing and tennis, and two years ago he
climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania with
his son, Douglas. He is survived by his wife
Margaret and by Douglas.
Also noted:
Kenneth R. Cossaboom, Class of i960, died
in 2001.
Alexandra Culbertson, Class of 1955, died
in January.
Edward Daley, Class of 1949, died in August.
David F. Gilmore, A72, died in 2001.
E. Brian Lewis, Class of 1962, died in 2001.
Charles A. Norris, Class of 1957, died in
January.
Rosemary Petke, A68, died in December.
J. Oliver Purvis, Jr., Class of 1934, died in
December.
James Iglehart Randall, Class of 1938, died
in November.
Col. C.E. Roache, USAF, Class of 1939, died
in January.
Penelope Rowe Fabrocini, A71, died in
January.
Cara Gendel Ryan, A70, died in January.
Charles Townshend, Class of 1931, died in
January.
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{GampusLife}
38
10 MYTHS ABOUT SENIOR ESSAYS
Perhaps these stories that have ppown up about the labor ofwriting^ the
dreaded Senior Essay are the ^secret teachings ” ofthe Annapolis campus.
wi Sus3AN Borden, A87
I.
Senior Laura Lyon demonstrates the stages of essay writing.
One month is a long time.
“One month is not a long time,” says Annapolis dean Harvey
Flaumenhaft, “You have to remember that our students write
things that they have not done sustained work on before. At other
schools they would have already taken courses on the book or the
subject and been ready to go at the beginning of the writing peri
od. Here, their essays come from a question that’s been gnawing
at them or a book they want to explore. They have not really sat
with it for a long time. They need a musing period and a time for
living with an idea. That’s something that can’t be rushed.”
a. During essay writing, underclassmen are forbidDEN TO ASK SENIORS HOW THEIR ESSAYS ARE GOING.
“I don’t think that’s true,” says senior Katie Cox, who reports
that people came up to her all the time to ask about her essay.
“They asked about it in the same tone they’d use to ask about
someone who’d died.”
3. Ms.
PAPER.
ReNAUT won the essay PRIZE WITH A FIVE-PAGE
Tutor Debbie Renaut (A68) disputes this rumor, although her
essay on Aristotle and language was a prize winner. “It was a per
fectly ordinary-length paper: ai, 35 pages,” she says. In an
attempt to dispel a very different rumor about the same paper she
adds, “It was also not a 500-page essay.”
4. Moby Dick was taken off the reading list because
NEARLY EVERYONE WROTE THEIR SENIOR ESSAY ON IT.
Although the exact reasons the Instruction Committee
removed Moby Dick from the program are not well remembered,
Flaumenhaft says that there is some truth to this rumor. “When a
sizable number of seniors are writing their essays on a 594-page
book, you’ve got an even larger number of tutors reading that
work each spring,” says Flaumenhaft. “The question must be
asked: Is this the best use of so much of our community’s time?”
When asked to speculate about why so many students chose
Moby Dick for their essay topic, Flaumenhaft points out that it,
along with Huckleberry Finn, were at the time the only two pro
gram works of American literature. “It’s a work that seizes the
imagination,” he adds. “You get to read a story that gives you a
wild ride while you stroke your beard and think deep thoughts.”
5. Mr. Schoener wrote his prize-winning essay in a
SINGLE DAY.
Schoener (A8a), a tutor on leave studying viticulture in Califor
nia’s Napa Valley, found this myth particularly interesting.
“When I was teaching in Annapolis, the story I had to dispel
wasn’t about a one-day essay, but a one-page essay,” he says. “The
truth is that I wrote my essay in the same amount of time everyone
else does. Maybe the only interesting thing you can say is that I
wrote it on a portable manual typewriter.”
{The College -John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Campus LIfe}
39
""My oral was an interrogation. The committee, which included
Jacob Klein, was exhausted by haring to turn all thosepages.
Howard Zeiderman (A67)
6. Generous contributions from Kinko’s are what’s
8. A CLEVER TITLE WILL ADD TO YOUR ESSAY’s APPEAL AND
KEEPING THE MINIMUM NUMBER OF PAGES AT 20 AND THE
NUMBER OF COPIES AT 4.
BOOST YOUR GRADE.
No record exists of donations from the chain of photocopying
stores to either the Annapolis or Santa Fe campus, but there is no
disregarding the number of students who show up at the Annapohs branch in the hours before the senior essay party. A recent
count revealed that approximately 40% of seniors copy their
essays there. The Delegate Council is looking into appointing a
special investigator to determine the impact on Kinko’s bottom
hne should 15-page essays ever become the norm.
7. Mr. Zeiderman wrote an 8o-page prize-winning
essay; since joining the faculty, he has always been
ASSIGNED TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE STUDENT WITH THE
LONGEST ESSAY.
“The number was much higher than 80,” Howard Zeiderman
(A67) admits, although he declines to state exactly how much
higher: “Let’s just say it was a finite number.”
Zeiderman recalls that his oral was much more than an oral: “It
was an interrogation. The committee [which included Jacob
Klein] was exhausted by having to turn all those pages. I had to do
penance for many years.” Zeiderman’s penance was no myth: he
was indeed assigned to the committees of long-essay writers.
Zeiderman’s essay-a senior thesis in those days-was about
how Kant and Hegel could both be correct. “If I had to rewrite it
now it would be much less than 80 pages,” he says. “If you can’t
say it in 20 pages, you can’t say it.”
Flaumenhaft has seen more than a few cute and clever titles in
his time as a tutor, and more than a few jokes and puns. He’s not
against a clever title as long as it conveys what the essay is about.
As for jokes, he says, “Abad joke is worse than no joke at all.”
9. A ONE-HOUR EXTENSION IS ALWAYS GRANTED AT MIDNIGHT.
“Not exactly,” says Flaumenhaft. “Shortly before midnight we
start asking friends about the people who have not yet shown up.
We usually learn they’re part of a back-up at Kinko’s [see myth #6]
or wrestling with the printer in the computer room. If they’re not
there at midnight, we’ll turn the clock back so they can all make
the deadline,” he says.
10.
One month is a short time.
While Flaumenhaft says that one month is not a long time, he
says it’s not a short time either. “One month can seem like a short
time, but having it longer than one month means that seniors
might become even more frantic about their essays. The essay
writing period is already an immense thing, but at least they know
it will come to an end soon. With more than a month to work on
their papers, some seniors might become paralyzed, delay start
ing, and feel that the essay writing period has to be the peak of
their lives,” he muses. His conclusion: “One month is not a short
time. It’s just about right.” ♦
{The College- St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
�40
{St. John’s Forever}
n 1966 Santa Fe tutor Dean Hag
their animals were charged a $10 monthly
gard heard about a string of horses
maintenance fee. Don Cook, now a tutor
that spent the summer in the Pecos
emeritus, rode his stallion up to St. John’s
and needed a home for the winter.
every day during the 1970s, and built his
horse a separate corral. Cook thinks that
Haggard thought that taking care
of horses would be a wonderful
there were very few colleges in the coun
activity for Johnnies. With the college’s try where students and faculty could bring
blessing. Haggard and some students built
a horse to campus. He remembers a stu
a corral for the Pecos herd out of old posts,
dent named Kyle Schultz (SF80) who kept
up beyond the men’s dormitory.
her horse at the college. When she gradu
Caring for the horses proved much
ated, she rode her horse from the Santa Fe
more of a challenge than anticipated.
campus to Missouri, a distance of 1,000
Shoeing and other maintenance costs
miles.
were high, so the horses were not brought
As the campus grew and other athletic
back the next winter. Later, the corral was
pursuits became available, student inter
expanded into stables, and the students
est in horses waned. The stables were torn
down in 1992 to make room for new dor
helped board horses in exchange for per
mission to ride them. Students and tutors
mitories. Because the corrals had fallen
who owned horses were encouraged to
into disuse, there wasn’t any protest from
bring them to school. Those who boarded
the students when they were demolished.
I
{The College -St John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
Students in the
I97OS FOUND RIDING
HORSEBACK A GREAT
WAY TO EXPLORE THE
HILLSIDES AROUND
THE CAMPUS.
�Ken Vaughn
(SF87) with his paintings at last year’s
Alumni Art Show.
H
H
Croquet Reunion
St. John’s vs. U.S. Naval Academv
H
Saturday, April 27,1 p.m., Annapolis
The twentieth annual croquet match
with the Naval Academy-honor, glory, and
revenge for last year’s loss.
^^^ date: April 28)
The Republic is not only the mother of all
liberal arts curricula, but indeed a reflec
tion on all kinds of ideal constitutions. It
contains rousing critiques of poetry and
visual arts, a startling understanding of
justice, and trenchant criticism and justifi
cation of democracy.
Summei
June 30 - July 5, Santa
Session \-Democracy In America
Led by Janet Dougherty and Delba
Winthrop
It is always timely to read de Tocqueville’s
work, but perhaps especially so now when
we are re-examining the character and
foundations of this imperfect and great
nation of ours.
Session Il-Invisible Crossroads: Readings
from New Mexico
Led by Julie Reahard and Krishnan
Venkatesh
We will approach this land of crossroads
not through O’Keeffe and Lawrence and
modernist cliches, but through a handful
of neglected classics: Left Handed, Frank
Cushing, and Robert Coles.
Session II-The Koran and the Life of
Muhammad
Led by John Cornell and Michael Wolfe
The Koran, a difficult book to read for the
first time, rarely follows a steady narrative
line. Most Muslims insist that the beauty of
the Koran is inseparable from the beauty of
the Arabic language. We shall address
these challenges.
Si^turday, July 6 - Sunday, July 28 in Santa Fe
Homec
Friday, October 4 ~ Sunday, October 6
Reunion Classes: 37, 42, 47, 52, 57, 62, 67,
72, 77, 82, 87, 92, and 97
For information on events, contact the
Offices of Alumni Activities:
Reunion classes: 72,77,82,87,92, and 97
Sunday, July 7 - Friday, July 12 wSanta Fe
Tahmina Shalizi
Director of Alumni and Parent Activities
Santa Fe-505-984-6103
tshalizi@maiLsjcsf.edu
Session I-The Republic
Led by Eva Brann and David Carl
Roberta Gable
Director of Alumni Activities
fwi
Illi
'
{The College ■ St. John’s College ■ IVinter/Spring 2002 }
�SIJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
Published by the
Public Relations Office
Box 2800
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
address service requested
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
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Goyette, Barbara (editor)
Borden, Sus3en (managing editor)
Ducker, Susanne (graphic designer)
Mulry, Laura J. (Santa Fe editor)
Johnson, David
Fetterer, Florence
Brann, Eva
Moreno, Ed
Gable, Roberta
Eoyang, Glenda H.
Skilondz, Melinda
Sanfilippo, Mark
The College
-
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6335d8f431ff3f801f2daa2f9f765041
PDF Text
Text
The
FALL
Santa F e
2002
Library
Darwm
Understanding
Our Fellow Animals
St. John’s
College
S?nta Fe NM
2
0
0 1
�On Darwin
he name Charles Darwin carries a lot of baggage for us. It’s
T
difficult to find the man—the great scientist—under the popu
lar misconceptions about evolution, the emotional debates
that have raged for decades over the place of humans in the
Darwin was born ingrand
1809, scheme
the fifthofofthings
six children
of his physician
father in
and
artis
post-Darwin,
the movement
some
tic mother. As a childAmerican
he collected
pebbles,
plants,
bird
eggs,
and
shells;
he
was
elementary and high schools to teach “creation
STJOHN’S
College
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
slower than his sistersism,
in school-what
’d symbols
politely call
today
late bloomer.
“The
” the Darwin we
fish
above
car abumpers,
the concept
school as a means of education
to me was applied
simply atoblank,
” Charles
wrote
to his
of social Darwinism
everything
from
anthropology
to business.
brother. His father complained: “You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat
catching.” Sent to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, Darwin devel
oped an interest in sea creatures and microscopic beings, even discovering that the
polyzoon ova of/Z/zrz/zz had cilia. He failed to develop any interest in anatomy,
however, and was sickened by watching surgery performed without anesthesia. Dad
sent him off to Cambridge in hopes that he would study for the clergy. There, he
spent three years and amassed a wonderful collection of beetles in addition to
learning bird taxidermy.
In 1831, when Darwin was 22, a family friend arranged an unpaid internship for
him—as a naturalist aboard the HMSBeagle. The captain, a believer in phrenology
(the study of the shape of the head and features), hesitated to take Darwin along
because he was worried about his large brow and nose. He relented, and the young
man spent the next five years traveling 40,000 miles to lands around the globe.
Carrying a book of Milton’s poetry in his pocket, he rode horseback through the
south Amazon jungle. He watched phosphorescent plankton, formulated theories
about coral reefs, observed tortoises and finches, searched for fossils, and docu
mented hundreds of species of plants and animals.
Back in England, Darwin married, fathered ii children, and retired to live like a
country gentleman, his inheritance assuring a comfortable life for his family. The
material he gathered on his voyage proved enough to keep him busily thinking for
many years. Evolution wasn’t a concept introduced by Darwin, but he did describe
a mechanism for it to happen—natural selection. His deep analysis of the natural
world is shown in Origin ofthe Species by Means ofNatural Selection or the Preser
vation ofFavored Races in the Stragglefitr Life. The book was published in 1859
and went through five editions in his lifetime. Darwin’s importance—and the source
of all the hubbub—stems from how his theories bring humankind into the same fold
as other species, into the natural world.
In this issue of The College, wc look at some St. John’s alumni who spend a lot of
their time thinking about or working with animals-from the fairly common interest
in dogs to the more exotic devotion to elephants. In the tradition of Darwin, they
are fascinated by the inner workings of the lives of animals and find that their com
munion with other species somehow enriches their understanding of their own.
-BG
The College (usps 018-750)
is published four times a year by
St. John’s College, Annapolis, md
and Santa Fe, nm.
Known office of publication:
Public Relations Office
St. John’s College
Box 2800
Annapolis, md 21404-2800
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, md
postmaster:
Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Public Relations
Office, St. John’s College,
Box 2800, Annapolis, md
21404-2800.
Annapolis
410-295-5554
b-goyette@sjca.edu
Barbara Goyette, editor
Sussan Borden, assistant editor
Susanne Ducker,
graphic designer
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Kathryn Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu
Laura J. Mulry, Santa Fe editor
Advisory Board
Alexis Brown
Grant Franks
David Levine
Margaret OdeU
John Rankin
Ginger Roherty
Tahmina Shalizi
Mark St. John
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�{Contents}
PAGE
12.
DEPARTMENTS
a FROM THE BELL TOWERS
Great Books for
Tough Times
William Pastille muses on the place
of the college in the larger community,
in light of this fall’s events.
PAGE
l6
Hearts of Animals
PAGE la
Alumni who work with animals explore
what we can understand about dogs,
horses, elephants, and other species.
PAGE
The events of 9/11
Barr and Buchanan: St. John’s and Beyond
Santa Fe swordplay
In New York for a St. John’s musical
New tutors
Announcements
Miss von Oppen honored
Remembering Bill O’Grady
Rebound math
Catastrophe summer
Santa Fe community day
10 LETTERS
11 BOOK REVIEW
20
William Alba’s An Oz Album
Job’s Life
Through New Eyes
Robert Sacks’ translation of Job,
along with a commentary, brings new
insights into the mysterious story.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
ag ALUMNI NOTES
ALUMNI PROFILES
31 Jim Rooney (A74) is a homeowner helper
34 David Maclaine (SF74) - an almostmillionaire
PAGE 16
36 Samantha Alderson (A86) conserves art
PAGE
22
objects of the past
Much Ado
About Nothing
39 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARDS
41 CAMPUS LIFE
Eva Brann’s trilogy covers the
imagination, time, and non-being.
PAGE
Not your usual summer jobs
4a ALUMNI association NEWS
26
Tale of Two
Homecomings
Alumni Art Show
44 OBITUARIES
46 ALUMNI VOICES
PAGE aa
Alumni love to return to campus
for seminars, prank reprises, and
other fun stuff.
How basketball can soothe the soul.
48 ST, JOHN’S FOREVER
ON THE COVER
Charles Darwin
Illustration by David Johnson
�<2
{From
the
Bell Towers}
Alumni Response
9/11
September ii was a difficult day
on the campuses of St. John’s.
Students found out about the
news from the few televisions
around, from the Internet,
from radios set up in the coffee
shops, from their friends; col
lege officials in Annapolis and
Santa Fe called everyone
together to tell what was known
and try to answer questions.
Phone banks were set up so
that students could call home,
and counselors were sum
moned. “We at the college are
a community,” said Annapolis
president Chris Nelson, “and
we have available to us the ben
efits of community.” Classes
were held so that students
might gather and discuss
events; with most students far
from home, the presence of
their friends and tutors proved
reassuring. Some classes opted
to proceed with their scheduled
tutorial tasks-“They found
comfort in close, finite work
that was free of uncertainly,”
said David Levine, dean in
Santa Fe.
Community dinners and
services of mourning were held
on each campus on the Friday
following the attacks so that
students, faculty, and staff
could acknowledge together
the tremendous loss to the
nation and express personal
sadness. In Santa Fe, David
Levine noted that students
would “never read a political
science book in the same way
again,” while in Annapolis,
President Nelson cited passages
from Homer’s Odyssey that
had been read that week by
freshmen and noted that
Odysseus’ suffering and griefboth in his reactions to battle
and in his dilemma about the
suitors-must seem more imme
diate to all of us now. Santa Fe
alumnus Matthew Lippart, a
''Now, more than
ever, dialogue
must continue.
aooi graduate, talked at the
dinner about his brother and
two friends who worked at the
World Trade Center. After not
talking to them for months, he
had spoken with them by phone
the previous night. The
tragedy, he said, had made him
think about the importance of
staying connected with loved
ones. “You shouldn’t be taking
people for granted,” he told
those assembled.
In Santa Fe, a weekend’s
worth of activities planned for
the September 15 inauguration
of president John Balkcom
were cancelled. Carlos Fuentes,
the Mexican novelist and diplo
mat, had been scheduled to
speak on the topic of “The
Great Books” on Thursday.
Even though travel was almost
impossible that week, he drove
a car from Texas to Mexico,
then took a small plane to New
Mexico, then drove to the cam
pus to keep his engagement.
He spoke movingly about the
importance of reading and the
significance of the college’s
program. When asked why he
{The College-
Flags everywhere, including
THE SJC COFFEE SHOP.
made such an extraordinary
effort to reach the campus,
Fuentes said, “Now, more than
ever, dialogue must continue.”
Students on both campuses
felt called to act in some way.
Many donated blood; others
began to organize to raise
money for relief efforts. In a
very Johnny-like way, they
questioned their place at the
college, and the college’s role
in the world. Maya Alapin, a
junior from Canada, wrote in
The Gadfly: “We have all been
catapulted into what we could
probably deem the most real
identity crisis of our lives.
What are we to do? And why
weren’t we doing anything
before? We feel guilt that our
now seemingly selfish St.
John’s pursuits have no ‘real
life’ benefits, and that people
doing the dirty work... have
probably never read Plato or
learned about a conic section.”
Several students, including
Alapin, met with a columnist
for the Baltimore Sun, who
reported their conversation in
an article that was published in
papers across the country.
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
By the afternoon of September
II, alumni began to try to con
tact their friends in New York
and Washington. The listservs
on the Internet proved to be a
way for people to check in with
each other and to let others
know they were safe.
Alumni in the reserves and
on active duty are participating
in the assaults on Afghanistan;
others have found their lives
affected in ways they could not
have anticipated.
Bart Lee (A68), a lawyer who
is an amateur radio operator,
served as the night shift super
visor for the New York City Red
Cross Radio during the week
following the attack. The Red
Cross managed about a dozen
shelters 24/7 via ham radio, he
says. “The cell phones, land
lines, and internet connections
didn’t work or were spotty at
best...My earliest traffic per
sonally handled was an emer
gency evacuation order, and
traffic at that level was all too
common in the first couple of
days.”
One recent alumna, Sylvaine
Rameckers (Aoi) had just fin
ished an internship with NBC
Dateline at Rockefeller Center
in New York. On September la,
her supervisor, a senior pro
ducer, called and asked if she’d
like to come back to the net
work full time. “That first
week, we worked round the
clock,” says Rameckers. “The
pace has been incredibly
intense. At first, we would
interview, get footage, try to
document what was happen
ing, and get pieces on the air
the very same night...By the
time a month had passed,
things were a bit calmer, but
it’s still an intense pressure to
get the news out. I feel like I’m
at boot camp. I feel disconnect
ed from what has happened,
but I do feel like we’re doing
something to help.”
Another alumnus, John
Sifton (A96), had just returned
�{From the Bell Towers}
from Afghanistan when the
Trade Center was attacked and
the political and social situa
tions in that country suddenly
became of importance to
everyone in America. Sifton
wrote an article for the Sep
tember 30 issue of the New
York Times Magazine, “A Last
Road Trip Through Premod
ern, Postmodern
Afghanistan.” As a human
rights attorney and humanitar
ian aid worker, Sifton had trav
eled the country and worked in
desert areas, bargaining with
local Taliban leaders for the
opportunity to document con
ditions. “I was just fascinated
by the realness of it all,” he
said in the article. “You look
out an office window, and you
see a displaced family living in
a bombed-out school, sleeping
on the balcony and cooking
Barr and
Buchanan:
St. John’s
AND Beyond
“Radicals are a dime a dozen
among us, but radicals who suc
ceed in imprinting their ideas
and ideals on other human
beings and transmitting them
to future generations by
reshaping actual institutions
are few indeed,” says William
W. McNeill in the Foreword to
a new book about the radicals
St. John’s knows best; New Pro
gram founders Stringfellow
Barr and Scott Buchanan. The
book. Radical Visions:
Stringfellow Barr, Scott
Buchanan, and Their Efforts
on behalfofEducation and Pol
itics in the Twentieth Century, is
by Charles A. Nelson (A45) and
represents the culmination of
an effort that began as early as
1994, when Nelson started col
Carrying On
Ambassador Carlos Fuentes
TRAVELED TO SaNTA Fe TO SPEAK
ABOUT THE GREAT BOOKS.
some birds they caught, doves.
This is their life. They can’t
change the channel.”
lecting material for two books
commemorating the looth
birthdays of Buchanan and
Barr. Those books were pub
lished in 1995 and 1997.
Researching the hves of the two
men who started the great
books program at the college in
1937, Nelson became interested
in their friendship. (Barr was
outgoing and multi-talented, a
voluminous writer and ener
getic speaker. Buchanan was
quieter, with a “quicksilver
quality” to his ideas and con
versations. The two were
friends for life, having met at
Oxford in the igaos.) Nelson
himself knew both men during
their early days at the college
since he served as administra
tive assistant to Barr while a
student.
In the new book. Nelson dis
cusses Barr and Buchanan’s
early collaborations and their
work at St. John’s. In the sec
ond half of the book, he lays
out what they did after they left
the college in 1947-both had a
sincere interest in world gov
ernment, which they conceived
{The Colleges?.
Following the attacks, students
have tried to carry on with
their work. In Santa Fe, stu
dents who wanted to learn
more about Islam joined a
study group led by tutor
Michael Wolfe(SF94), who con
centrated on Islam while earn
ing a master’s degree in the his
tory of religions at the
University of Virginia. “Unfor
tunately, oftentimes the only
source of information people
get on Islam is through events
like these,” said Wolfe. “It
tends to produce a distorted
view of what Islam is about. In
the study group, I hope we can
help to distinguish between
Islamic terrorism and more tra
ditional views of Islam.” The
college also collaborated with
the Council on International
Relations and presented a lec
of as dependent on economic
development of the Third
World. Buchanan spent time in
Israel, where he was interested
in the cooperative living of the
kibbutzim. Barr went to India
and met with leaders who want
ed to use an agrarian society
model to benefit the people
and make the best use of the
land there. Nelson speculates
that the desire to transform
society manifested in their
John ’5 College ■ Fall 2001 }
3
ture, “The Islamic Perspective
of Current Events,” by Fethi
Benhalim.
At the Friday night lecture
the week following 9/ii, Har
vey Flaumenhaft, dean in
Annapolis, took a moment to
talk about why it is important
for the college to continue nor
mally. “Our work, at this col
lege, does in fact, in various
ways, make us better able to
defend our country,” he said.
“And it also makes us better
able to preserve what’s best
about it, and even to improve
it; but above all, the work that
we do here helps to make our
country worth defending.” The
title of the lecture, by Neal
Weiner (A64), was “Generosi
ty, Truth and Tolerance.”
— Reported by Marissa Morrison in
Santa Fe and Barbara Goyette in
Annapolis.
Charles Nelson (A45) shows
DAUGHTER JaNET BeRGGREN
(A72) HIS EARLIER BOOK ABOUT
Buchanan.
work at St. John’s carried over
into the political realm later in
their lives.
Radical Visions is published
by Bergin & Garvey, Green
wood Publishing Group. A
review will appear in a subse
quent issue of The College.
�4
Santa Fe
Swordplay
The newly completed Student
Activities Center in Santa Fe
played host to a regional fenc
ing tournament for over 50
fencers from as far away as
Amarillo, Tex. on September
a8. A major tournament at the
Air Force Academy in Colorado
Springs was cancelled due to
heightened security concerns
following the tragedies of Sep
tember II. James Odom, head
coach of the High Desert Fenc
ing Club in Santa Fe, decided
to host a smaller, replacement
tournament, giving half of the
Heather Upshaw (SF04)
WAITING TO FOIL AN OPPONENT.
proceeds to the relief effort. St.
John’s College donated the use
of its gym. The tournament,
along with a youth tournament
held in town, raised $400 for
the World Trade Center-911
Relief Fund.
Swordplay has had an
inevitable role in the history of
the civilized world. Man has
been poking stuff with sharp,
pointy metal things long before
he took the time to write great
books-or any books for that
matter. Sword duels continued
to solve personal disputes until
the end of the nineteenth cen
{From the Bell Towers}
tury (sort of like paper, scis
sors, rock that really counts).
Modern fencing as a sport con
tinues the tradition and at least
in form preserves the ceremony
and prestige of swordplay from
its aristocratic hey-day.
The weapons used in fencing
are foil, epee, and saber. Foil,
by far the most popular, is a
fast-paced point weapon used
for poking, not slashing. Only
the torso is a legal target. Epee
(the author is an Epeeist at
heart) is a slower-paced, men
tally-oriented point weapon
that has the whole body, even
the toes, as a target. Saber is a
curved, slashing weapon with
everything above the waist a
target. It originated from saber
bearing cavalry charges and is
fast and aggressive. The three
weapons draw distinctly differ
ent fencers. Saberists are usual
ly short and angry. Epeeists are
usually tall and relaxed. And
foihsts are everybody else.
Fencing bouts take place
along a fourteen-meter strip. A
bout between two fencers lasts,
depending on the importance
of the bout, either five or fif
teen touches (not gashes.
Mom) or until four or twelve
minutes have elapsed. The
point weapons have buttons
that are depressed on the oppo
nent, whereas saber blades are
electrified (you really don’t
want an explanation of how this
works).
There are two things fencing
is not-dangerous or easy. Fenc
ing is one of the safest contact
sports. The blades are made of
treated metal that among other
things will break flat, reducing
the already small chance of
serious injury. And fencing is
truly difficult. It doesn’t matter
to me how many times you
might have seen The Princess
Bride. Skilled fencing resem
bles playing good chess at a full
sprint.
The Santa Fe campus’ club,
the Sexy Fencers (get it, SJCSF)
has just this year gotten togeth-
{The College
Giving
Regards to
(Off-)
Broadway
About 100 New York City alum
ni began their “getting back to
normal” attempts on October
3, as they gathered for an
evening at the theater-for a
properly thoughtful, entertain
ing, and inspirational show
called The Spitfire Grill. The
musical is based on the movie
of the same name, written and
directed by Lee David Zlotoff
(A74). A Sundance Festival win
ner, the movie was picked up
for national distribution in
1996The college purchased seats
in the Duke Theater on 42nd
Street for New York alumni.
The evening proved to be both
a celebration of community-
er to form an actual club,
thanks to juniors with more
dedication and organization
than the author. Local coach
and foil fencer Rob Madril, who
happened to finish third in the
recent tournament, instructs
the team with help from talent
ed tutor Krishnan Venkatesh.
Representing St. John’s at
the September 28th tourna
ment were intrepid leader Eric
Baldwin, intrepid lefty
Jonathan Zecher, the dedicated
and over-worked Erin Hanlon,
sophomore talent Stephen
Vorkoper, fellow transfer
St John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
Lee Zlotoff(center) with Joe
Boucher and Fielding Dupuy.
Johnnies from every era
seemed glad to see each other
and spend time at a very St.
John’s-related show-and great
entertainment. The musical
was first performed in Wiscon
sin, where a writer/composer
duo adapted the story of the
lonely young woman, newly
released from prison, who finds
her way into the hearts of a
group of small-town residents.
After the performance,
Zlotoff and James Valcq, who
wrote the songs for the musi
cal, talked with the alumni and
answered questions about the
production. “It was wonderful
for the college to bring us all
together,” said Zlotoff (who
had traveled from LA for the
event). “The play seemed to
have the right kind of messages
for us at this time, and we
enjoyed meeting and talking
with one another about it.” 4"
Heather Upshaw, and 1. Indi
vidual scores and rankings
among the 33 foil fencers
attending would not convey the
satisfaction and personal pride
that the Johnnies gained from
simply competing. And hey, if
Rob Madril places third, it was
a tough meet.
Any alumni still fencing are
encouraged to contact the
author by mail at the Santa Fe
campus. I’d like to see what
kind of fencer base we have in
our community. -4
— BY Evan Hancock, SFoa
�{From
New Tutors
The college welcomed nine new
tutors thisfall.
Joining the faculty
IN Santa Fe:_____________
Martha Franks (SF78) earned a
law degree from the University
of New Mexico Law School. She
clerked for Chief Judge Seth of
the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of
Appeals, then practiced law in
Washington, D.C. and Santa
Fe, developing an expertise in
environmental law. She also
attended the Virginia Theologi
cal Seminary. She is an attorney
for the U.S. Department of the
Interior. She taught a sopho
more seminar first semester.
John Gibson (SF88) is finish
ing his PhD in the Theoretical
and Applied Mechanics Depart
ment at Cornell (his disserta
tion is “Dynamical Systems
Models of the Turbulent
Boundary Layer”). At Cornell
he worked in the Computation
al Fluid Dynamics Laboratory,
managed the Graduate and Fac
ulty Computational Research
Facilities, and was an instruc
tor in mechanical and aero
space engineering. He also
studies piano and vocal per
formance.
Patricia Greer has a BA from
Notre Dame of Maryland, an
MA from Johns Hopkins, and
an MA from the St. John’s
Graduate Institute. She
received her PhD from the
University of Virginia (her dis
sertation was “The Net of the
Mahabharata: Reading the Epic
as Literature”). She lived in
India, where she co-founded
and ran a documentary film
production unit, taught Eng
lish, helped establish and
administer the International
Educational Institute, and was
head of the International High
School. She speaks Sanskrit,
Tamil, and French.
Ewan Harrison earned a BA
in biology from the University
of Cahfornia, San Diego, and
the
Bell Towers}
an MS in Biology from the Uni
versity of Michigan. He’s fin
ishing up his PhD there (with a
dissertation on “Mate Choice
and Life History Evolution in
Mexican Mollies”). He has
taught at the University of
Michigan and at Eastern Michi
gan University.
Jay Smith (SF77) received an
MA in philosophy from Mar
quette University and has been
working toward his PhD from
Fordham University. His disser
tation explores our obligations
to future generations. He has
worked for the Environmental
Protection Agency and has also
worked for a range of interna
tional organizations on projects
in the South Pacific, Nepal,
Somalia, Nairobi, and Fiji.
Lise van Boxel earned a BA
in political science from the
University of Toronto and an
MA from Boston College. She
received her PhD in political
science from the University of
Toronto, with a dissertation
titled “Revealing Perspectives:
A Study of the Standard of
Truth in Nietzsche’s Philoso
phy.” She has taught at the Uni
versity of Toronto and in a con
tinuing education program
modeled on St. John’s called
Classical Pursuits.
In Annapolis:
Dylan Casey received a BS in
physics and a BA in political
theory from Michigan State
University, and an MA in
physics and a PhD in experi
mental particle physics from
the University of Rochester. He
has designed, constructed, and
tested equipment to be used at
the Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory. He is interested in
the nature of measurement,
probability, and quantitative
decision-making as these mani
fest themselves in determining
what are the smallest pieces of
matter and how they interact
and are related.
Jeffrey Smith received a BA
from Emory University with a
double major in philosophy and
political science, and a PhD
from the Committee on Social
Thought at the University of
Chicago. He is completing a
book on human nature in
Rousseau’s Emile, which has
been accepted for publication.
His interest in community
5
development in Chicago led
him to found and edit an annu
al journal of urban affairs and
to host a weekly radio program
on which he interviewed com
munity leaders and local politi
cians about community issues
(like the participation of gang
leaders in the political process)
and about innovative policy ini
tiatives (like community devel
opment banking).
John Tomarchio received a
BA in English from Columbia
University and an MA and PhD
in philosophy from the
Catholic University of America,
where his work focused on the
relationship of the metaphysics
of Thomas Aquinas to that of
Plato, Aristotle, and the Neoplatonists. He has taught at
Catholic University, in the Core
Curriculum at Boston Universi
ty, and at Villanova University.
He has published articles on
the metaphysics of Aquinas and
on the computerized research
methods that he used in doing
his research and in producing
the indices upon which it is
based.
Crash Proof: After years of the “Camp St. John's” entrance sign for the Santa Fe campus being dam
aged REGULARLY BY ERRANT DRIVERS, ANEW (HOPEFULLY IMPENETRABLE) SIGN WAS FINALLY INSTALLED - AT A
SAFER LOCATION, NoW ALL THAt’s NEEDED IS LIGHTING. PICTURED ARE MEMBERS OF THE CaMPUS PLANNING COM
MITTEE, FROM left: TUTORS MiCHAEL RaWN, CHAIR; JuLIE ReAHARD; JaCQUES DuVOISIN (A80); Hans VON
Briesen, director of Laboratories and past chair; Kathy Mizrahi, director of Housing and Residen
tial Life; tutors Judith Adam and Mark Rollins; and student representative Christian Blood (SF02).
{The College.
5f. John^s College ■ Fall 200/ }
�{From the Bell Towers}
6
Announcements
New Dorms Slated
FOR Annapolis
A confluence of factors led to
crowding in the Annapolis cam
pus dorms this fall. As a result,
freshmen were assigned to
triples in the largest rooms in
Humphreys, and some former
singles were made into doubles.
Although total enrollment is
only slightly above the opti
mum of 460, a greater number
of upperclassmen requested
rooms on campus, leaving
fewer rooms available for
incoming freshmen. The
largest landlord in Annapolis
had changed some rental poli
cies over the summer, and
more apartments close to cam
pus that had formerly been
rented to Johnnies were being
“upgraded” for the upscale
market.
The Campus Planning Com
mittee (a group of faculty and
administrators who examine
physical plant issues and make
building decisions) resurrected
the perennial question of
whether another dormitory
should be built. Currently,
there are enough dorm room
spaces for about three-quarters
of the students to live on-campus. Because improvement in
off-campus housing availability
is not likely, the committee
decided to go ahead with plans
for a new dorm. Student forums
and a faculty discussion of the
project brought up important
issues: should the college sacri
fice any more back-campus
space to dorms? would a new
dorm change the social pat
terns of students? how about
suites, or rooms with kitchens?
During the coming semester,
the committee will address the
questions, find an architect,
decide on a location, and
secure permits. Projected date
for the new dorm’s opening: in
time for the Febbies who will
arrive in January 2003.
Shopping Benefit Alert
OK-so the Internet has not
proved itself to be the best
place to buy furniture, find a
job, make investments, or
order groceries. But plenty of
stuff is being sold online, and
now there’s a way for shoppers
at some of the best-known web
sites to benefit St. John’s.
GreaterGood.com has set up an
online system for benefiting a
number of charities and non
profits. Here’s how it works: go
to their site at www.greatergood.com, choose a cause (St.
John’s!), click on Shop to visit
sites like Barnes and Noble,
Lands End, and Dell Computer.
A percentage of your purchase
will be donated to the collegeat no extra charge.
New Vice President
FOR Santa Fe Sought
The college is conducting a
search for a new vice president
for the Santa Fe campus. The
vice president, in partnership
with the vice president on the
Annapolis campus, helps
supervise all areas of develop
ment, including corporate and
foundation relations, planned
giving, annual giving, alumni
relations, government rela
tions, and public affairs. The
advancement staff on both
campuses work as a single team
for advancing the national pro
grams of the college, while pur
suing and supporting local and
regional programs of interest
to each campus. Specific
responsibilities include, but are
not limited to major donor cul
tivation and stewardship, devel
opment and implementation of
capital projects, participation
in strategic planning, manage
ment of staff, and maintaining
local community and govern
ment relations.
The qualifications are a
bachelor’s degree plus eight to
ten years experience in
advancement/development
work with a major institution,
preferably in higher education.
The candidate must have
exceptional communication
and organizational skills. Also,
he/she must have experience
managing staff and volunteers,
and in participating in annual
fund and capital campaigns.
Letters of interest along with a
current resume should be sent
to St. John’s College, 1160
Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe,
NM, 87505-4599, Attention:
Director of Personnel.
Lower Rates for
Student Loans
A notefrom Caroline Chris
tensen, director offinancial aid:
Now is an excellent time for
alumni to consolidate student
loans-interest rates are the
lowest in the history of federal
student loans and with consoli
dation a student can lock into
these rates. Excellent informa
tion is available at www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov.
Miss von
Oppen
Honored
Annapolis tutor Beate Ruhm
von Oppen was honored by the
Republic of Germany in Sep
tember, when she was present
ed with the Officer’s Cross of
the Order of Merit by the
Deputy Chief of Mission in
Washington, D.C.
An authority on the German
Resistance during World War
11, von Oppen grew up in Ger
many, moved at 15 to Holland,
where she attended high
school, and then moved to Eng
land, where she attended the
University of Birmingham.
During the war, she served
with the British Foreign Office
and later worked in the Royal
Institute of International
Affairs and on the research staff
of Nuffield College, Oxford.
After coming to the U.S., she
was a member of the staff of the
microfilming project of the
American Historical Associa
tion’s Committee for the Study
of War Documents.
Her translations include
Konrad Adenaueher’s Memoirs.
She is the editor of Documents
on Germany under Occupation
045'54 and Religion and Resis
tance to Nazism. She is also the
{The Colleges?. John’s
College ■ Fall 2001 }
Beate Ruhm von Oppen (right)
Glenda Eoyang (SF76)
WITH
editor and translator of the
wartime letters of Helmuth
James von Moltke, published in
German as Briefs ann Freya
and in America and England as
Letters to Freya, 1939-45.
Moltke was a member of the
German government staff who
was executed just before the
end of the war because of his
opposition to the Nazis. Von
Oppen has also recently edited
and translated a second voL
ume, this of letters from
Moltke’s mother Dorothy to
her family in South Africa, A
Life in Germany. Ironically,
Dorothy’s letters were written
in English and had to be trans
lated for publication in Ger
many. The book awaits an
Anglo-American publisher.
Von Oppen has taught at St.
John’s since i960. This fall she
was made an honorary alumna
by the St. John’s Alumni Asso
ciation (see p. 40.)
�{From the Bell Towers}
Remembering
Bill O’Grady
Every year Philanthropia, the
group of alumni volunteers
who help the college with
fundraising, looks for reunion
class leaders who will bring
members of their class together
in common cause. When Kate
Lufkin Day (A76) was asked to
be a reunion class leader, she
decided to bring her class
together to give a gift to St.
John’s in the name of a tutor
who meant a great deal to
them: the late Bill O’Grady.
O’Grady, a tutor from 1970
to 1986 who taught on both
campuses, was well known for
his open heart, his poetic spir
it, his commitment to students,
and his love of the college. Stu
dents assigned to his lab classes
considered themselves lucky
and called the class “poetry
lab,” a reference to O’Grady’s
ability to shed light on the lyri
cal side of any subject. The
class of ’76 felt particularly
close to him. Having been
freshmen early in his tenure,
they shared fond memories of
his classes-especially an
O’Grady-Simpson freshman
seminar and an O’Grady-von
Oppen sophomore seminar.
To honor the tutor they so
well remember, the class will
give a gift to the college’s
O’Grady Fund, whose purpose
is to provide money for stu
dents on both campuses in
times of emergency. The fund is
used to help students who face
unexpected needs. The fund
could help a student afford a
plane ticket in the event of a
death in the family. If a parent
loses a job, the fund could help
the student buy books. When a
financially-stretched student
breaks a leg and can’t walk to
an off-campus job, the fund
could be used to help cover
necessary expenses.
Day herself came up with the
idea for the fund shortly after
William O’Grady (far left) at a Senior Oral in the 1970s.
O’Grady’s death in 1986. The
seeds of the idea were sown
years ago, when Day was a
friend of O’Grady’s in Santa Fe,
where she lived after gradua
tion as her husband. Bill Day
{SF80), finished St. John’s. “I
remember agonizing to Mr.
O’Grady one day about how we
could not afford to move back
to Minnesota after my hus
band’s graduation,” Day wrote
in a letter to her class suggest
ing they make the gift. “In typi
cal fashion. Bill offered to lend
us-no, give us-the money. T
have much more than I need.
Really. I’d be happy to help you
out,’ is how I remember his
words at the time.” Although
Day and her husband did not
have to take O’Grady up on his
offer, his compassion and gen
erosity have stayed with her.
And it seems that his spirit of
compassion and generosity is
also alive among her class
mates. So far, the class has
responded with ii gifts totaling
$20,970, and contributions
continue to arrive. Day is
pleased with the results. “It
was certainly successful beyond
anything I had hoped for,” she
says. “Everybody who respond
{The College -St
ed seemed to really care about
current students and their
needs-and to remember keenly
their own needs as students. I
don’t know if current students
realize this, but a lot of alumni
really do care about their lives
and want to help them make it
through. We all know how hard
it can be.”
Rebound Math
All basketball fans can rattle off the basic statistics of a game: field
goals, free throws, rebounds, assists, turnovers, blocked shots, and
fouls. But how many know about the working man’s stat? The trillionaire’s club? The plus/minus?
Annapolis senior Randy Pennell can explain them all, now that
he’s finished a Hodson Trust internship working in the statistics
department for the Philadelphia 76ers. Pennell spent last summer
in a small, cramped room in Philadelphia’s Spectrum gathering
every kind of NBA statistic you can imagine for both teams and
individual players. The working man’s stat? “That’s when a player
gets something in every category in the box scores: shot attempt
ed, shot scored, shot blocked, free throw, foul committed,
turnover, etc.” explains Pennell. The trillionaire’s club? “It’s more
or less the opposite-when a player gets a one and nine zeros.”
Plus/minus, Pennell says, refers to the points scored by the team
while a player is on the floor over the points scored by the oppos
ing team while that player is on the floor.
While Pennell sticks with real basketball rather than fantasy
(he’s a Druid), the summer satisfied some basketball fantasies he
never knew he had. He attended home games for the Eastern Con
ference and NBA finals and met all of the Sixers, as well as
Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
Pennell’s internship should prove helpful as he pursues a career
in sports-writing. He’s already gotten a jump start: he published a
series of human interest articles on the basketball playoffs in the
Chester County Press while working for the Sixers.
John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�8
{From
the
Bell Towers}
and Grounds crew worked extra
hours to accommodate the
pipeline contract crew, “People
stayed until nine o’clock many
nights just in case the gas came
back on, because they would
need to re-light the pilot lights
to start the water heating
process,” said B&G Director
Ted Gonzales. Without the use
of gas apphances in the dining
hall kitchen, Aramark adjusted
the meal service to include veg
etables, hamburgers, and hot
dogs cooked outside on a char
coal grill.
Catastrophe
Summer
When my husband, tutor
William Alba, and I moved
onto the Santa Fe campus in
July to take on the role of sen
ior residents, we found it hard
to contain our excitement. Our
new position would provide a
beautiful little apartment at the
base of the mountains plus a
chance to become more closely
connected to the college we
love. What could go wrong? We
didn’t know then that we were
moving onto campus just in
time to experience Catastrophe
Summer.
A TWISTER BLOWS
THROUGH CAMPUS
Wilting plants
SIGNAL GAS POISONING
At the beginning of the sum
mer, Grounds and Landscape
Supervisor Pat McCue
(SFGI83) started to worry
about campus trees that were
dying. A large cottonwood as
old as the Santa Fe campus,
which for decades had wel
comed visitors at the parking
circle, was dead. Nearby a tall
ponderosa, nine pinon trees,
and a number of chamisa bush
es were all on their deathbed.
“I couldn’t find any sign of
disease,” said McCue. “I was
sure it was some type of pollu
tion.” He asked tutor Linda
Wiener, an entomologist, to
look at the trees. “Herbicides
or pollution didn’t seem likely,
and the only other thing I could
think that would have that kind
of effect would be a gas leak,”
she said, “Pat took a shovel and
started digging. He said it just
reeked of gas.” The gas had
been killing the trees in the
same way it would a human
being or other living body-by
interfering with the ability of
the organisms to carry oxygen,
McCue explained. “Gas doesn’t
really poison a tree. It suffo
cates the roots,” he said.
Luckily, McCue and Wiener
discovered the problem before
Taking down the cottonwood
TREE WHICH HAD BEEN POISONED
BY A NATURAL GAS LEAK.
any explosions occurred. Since
the campus gas lines belong to
St. John’s, the college needed
to fix the problem. A contractor
was hired to test every campus
pipe for leaks. For the next
month, the grounds and roads
were torn up and gas was large
ly unavailable on campus.
For those staying in campus
housing, this meant taking cold
showers for about three weeks,
Jennifer Brookes, director of
Conference Services, worried
that summer conference atten
dees living in the dorms would
be unsettled by the lack of hot
water, but she heard few com
plaints. “Most everybody was
very understanding,” Brookes
said. “One group leader said he
{The College -
Messagefrom
the switchboard:
a mother bear
and cub had been
sighted on
Atalaya trail.
could give up coffee if he con
tinued to have cold showers in
the morning, because they
were so exhilarating.” Presi
dent John Balkcom offered the
use of the guest shower at the
Hunt House, less than a mile
from campus, and the showers
at the Student Activities Center
had hot water after less than a
week.
An understaffed (two
employees were out on short
term disability leave) Buildings
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
During one of these outdoor
meals, when the soccer field
was set up with canopies and
grills for a staff picnic, a twister
passed through campus. It
picked up the canopies and
dumped them in the middle of
Camino Cabra, The canopies
were replaced before the party
started and no one got hurt.
But Gonzalez couldn’t believe
the string of near-misses the
campus was facing. “We had so
many things going on-one
after another,” he said. Brooks
agreed: “It was totally wacky.”
Lightning
STRIKES Atalaya
From July 8 to July ai, I worked
as an RA (resident assistant) for
the Monte Sol Writing Work
shop, a residential program
that helps high school students
develop their creative and ana
lytical skills. On the morning of
Saturday, July 14, the students
headed up Atalaya Mountain,
just above campus, for a hike
with the workshop’s other RAs,
John McCarthy (SFoi) and Liz
Borshard (SF99).
At breakfast, shortly after
saying farewell to the hikers, I
opened the local newspaper
and panicked. According to a
news report, a fire had started
near the top of the mountain
the previous day and had not
been extinguished. Luckily, the
fire was out between the time
�{From the Bell Towers}
the newspaper was printed and
the hike began. The fire,
caused by a lightning strike
near campus, occurred on Fri
day the 13th.
A WOODPECKER STRIKES
The next exciting event was a
brief power outage caused by a
woodpecker. On July aa, the
bird landed on a transformer
near the gym, causing a short.
“It fried the woodpecker and
knocked out the electricity,”
Gonzales said.
This time the affected struc
ture was not on college proper
ty, so St. John’s did not bear the
cost of repair. The utility com
pany had power back on within
a few hours.
Magic on
Campus
Santa Fefreshmen dig
deep on Community
Service Day.
While most freshmen come to
St. John’s expecting to embark
on a rigorous intellectual jour
ney, few expect to be handed a
shovel and asked to do some
hard, physical labor. But on
Community Service Day, held
the Saturday before the first
full day of classes, roughly onequarter of the new freshman
class volunteered to roll up
their sleeves along with upper
classmen, faculty, and staff
(including college president
John Balkcom) and tackle some
labor-intensive jobs on campus.
Participants cut down a
mature cottonwood tree (a
landmark meeting place on
campus) that was killed by a
natural gas leak so that it could
be replaced with a young
sycamore. They also dug a
trench-50 feet long and a feet
deep-for a new gas line that
Toilets stop flushing
Throughout July and the begin
ning of August, I often con
soled myself during a cold
shower with this thought: “At
least the toilet works.” One
morning in early August, the
water lines in the walls of our
apartment moaned, then the
water stopped flowing. I ran
down to the academic build
ings, hoping to find a function
ing lavatory, but they were all
out of order. The water short
age was caused by an accident
during work on the water lines.
Yes, in addition to the gas lines
being replaced, water lines
were being replaced to increase
the water pressure in case of
fire. This was a project the col
lege had planned long before
the other catastrophes
will run under the beautiful
grassy lawn north of Weigle
Hall. “The lawn is one of the
most central landscape areas of
the college, both socially and
physically,” said assistant gar
dener Mike DiMezza (SF98 and
EC99). It was DiMezza who
first suggested the college dig
the trench by hand to save the
lawn from the ravages of a
backhoe.
The day had a festive atmos
phere, reminiscent of barn rais
ings and filled with good
humor. Some staff members
teased the students, saying that
when they finished digging the
trench they could start on the
hole for the long-proposed
swimming pool behind the
gym. Those whose physical
exertions rarely surpass haul
ing heavy backpacks worked
alongside the more muscular
members of the crew. When the
day was over, the volunteers
were rewarded with a barbecue
on the Fishpond Placita, spon
sored by the senior class.
DiMezza estimated that the
35 volunteers contributed at
least 140 hours of labor that
day. “I cannot tell you how
{The College.
occurred. The crew had hit a
water main and needed to get a
part from Albuquerque before
they could repair it. The col
lege reacted swiftly, procuring
porta-potties as well as bottled
water for the washrooms and
the dining hall kitchen.
At this point in the summer,
I was enrolled in the Summer
Classics program in a seminar
on The Plays of Kalidasa. When
it was time for the mid-morn
ing break, we stepped outside
and were happy to see that
porta-potties had arrived. They
were painted a bright yellow,
which helped boost spirits. By
this point in Catastrophe Sum
mer, people were eager to be
cheered.
“I only told a couple of peo
ple that I wanted my mommy,”
said Gonzales.
Digging WITH student backs—
NOT A BACKHOE—SAVES THE LAWN.
deeply grateful I was that I
didn’t have to dig that trench
by myself,” he said.
Brendan O’Neill {SF93),
director of college events, said
that Community Service Day is
about building community.
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
9
Bears head
TOWARD CAMPUS
By the time students began mov
ing into dorms for the fall term
on August ai, I breathed a sigh
of relief that Catastrophe Sum
mer had ended. But later that
morning, Vivian Duran at the
switchboard delivered a voice
mail message to the college
community, alerting us that a
mother bear and her cub had
been sighted on Atalaya trail. As
I listened to Duran’s recorded
advice on how to behave during
an encounter with a bear-hold
your hands high to seem taller
and back away slowly-I smiled.
Surely, this was just one more
potential disaster that the col
lege would manage with grace
and determination. 4— BY Marissa Morrison (SFGI03)
“We are fortunate because of
our small size, but we still have
to work on ways to bring every
one together,” he said. “When
we come together as a commu
nity - faculty, staff and student^
helping each other out - that’s
when the magic happens on
this campus.” -4
— BY Teri Thomson Randall
�{Letters}
IO
Wrong Author
I’d like to correct an easily made but signif
icant error in John Rankin’s series of pro
files on Johnnies in the world of policy
(“Rousseau and Realpolitik,” The College,
Summer aooi). Mr. Rankin cites me rec
ommending reading Karl Monger as an
economist. It should have been “Carl
Monger,” who published his path-breaking
and revolutionary Grundsatze der Volkswirtschaftslehre [Principles ofEconomics]
in 1871. His son Karl Monger became a
noted mathematician, who also occasional
ly wrote on such topics as the role of uncer
taintyin economics. It was Carl Monger
(with a “C”) who dissolved the great prob
lems that had bedeviled classical econom
ics by introducing the concept of choice at
the margin. The confusion between the two
is a common mistake, but one with signifi
cant consequences when one goes to the
library or the bookstore.
— Tom G. Palmer,
''Iknow that the
St. John s oftoday is
not the St. John s of
my day, but it still hets
a very tender spot
in my heart.
sections are central to his main thesis.
I’m not sure if it exists in an easily
acquired print medium, but it’s on the web
at http://www.abelard.org/turpap/turpap.htm.
I don’t know what the current Sopho
more readings are, so I can’t propose some
thing to drop to make room for this. That’s
always the rub, isn’t it?
— Thomas N. Day,
A71
A8a
there must be more pictures out there. I
know that the St. John’s of today is not the
St. John’s of my day; but it still has a very
tender spot in my heart. My connection
goes back to 1913, when my father was on
the faculty.
— Edward E. Gray, Class of 1934
An Adler Rememrrance
Just another of those examples of how
seemingly minor events can impact one's
entire life: Why or how it came about, I
can’t recall, but in late 195a I began read
ing Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book,
wherein, of course, he mentioned St.
John’s and the great books program. Two
years later I was enrolled at St. John’s.
Although there may have been an opportunity-he lectured once while I was there-I
never made a point of thanking him for
what turned out to be a seminal experience
in my life.
— Jerry Milhollan, Class of 1958
Reading List
Suggestion
I finally got a chance to read
A. M. Turing’s paper “Com
puting Machinery and Intelli
gence.” I’d like to propose
that SJC include it as part of
the sophomore seminar read
ings.
The paper is extremely
accessible to a non-technical
student, reading almost like
one of Maxwell’s papers. It
contains the original description of the famous Turing Test. It also contains the germ, though not pursued, of
Chaos Theory. It makes predictions about
the future of Artificial Intelligence which
coincide with the present time. It also pres
ents, in very general terms, the function
ing of a digital computer. It represents a
source document that much of our present
society rests upon. If Johnnies are sup
posed to understand the roots of their cul
tural assumptions, then this is a very acces
sible way into the beginnings of the impact
of computers.
On the down side, Turing makes a
pitiable response to religious objections to
Al, mostly because he doesn’t take religion
seriously and doesn’t make a serious effort
at a counter-argument. He also has a touch
ing faith in the statistical provability of
ESP. On the other hand, neither of these
Sje DESK -1935
St. John’s Forever
I was amazed to see pictures of my desk in
my room at the Delta Psi Omega fraternity
house in the Summer issue of The College.
I was intrigued with the comment about
my neckties that were hanging on the wall.
I wonder if the students of today have any
neckties. My roommate in 1935 was Robert
H. Lampee of the class of 1935. His desk is
the one on the left of the picture. He was
the editor of the St. John’s Collegian, the
college newspaper. There was an Under
wood typewriter under that cover.
Several years ago I sent my collection of
photographs of St. John’s to the Alumni
Office. I suggest that alumni of my vintage
send their collections to the college also.
Our ranks are getting thinner, but I feel
{The College -
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
The CoZZege welcomes letters on issues of
interest to readers. Letters maybe edited
for clarity and/or length. Those under 500
words have a better chance of being printed
in their entirety.
Please address letters to; The College
Magazine, St. John’s College, Box 2800,
Annapolis MD 21404 or The College Maga
zine, Public Relations Office, St. John’s
College, 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa
Fe, NM 87505-4599.
Letters can also be sent via e-mail to:
b-goyette@sjca.edu, or via the form for let
ters on the web site atwww.sjca.edu - click
on “Alumni,” then on “Contact The Col
lege Magazine.”
�{Book Review}
POETRY PUZZLES
William Alba combines visual andpoetic whimsy
in his book An Oz Album.
BY James Idema
R
obert Frost defined “The Figure a Poem
Makes” in an introduction to the 1949 col
lection of his complete poems. “It begins in
delight and ends in wisdom,” he wrote.
“The figure is the same as for love.”
William Alba, a Santa Fe tutor, could have
had something like that in mind with An
Oz Album (Pulley Press), a chapbook of his
own delightfully eccentric verse, inter
spersed as it is with fragments from the
writings of Sandburg, Blake, Dante, Woody
Guthrie, Whitman, and L. Frank Baum
(author of The Wizard of Oz). In a whimsi
cal tribute to Walt Whitman, for example,
Alba frames verses from Whitman’s “Song
of the Open Road” between lists of the zip
codes of the places the author has lived and
their corresponding dates. Dorothy, the
Scarecrow, and other characters from The
Wizard of Oz-i ncluding the Wicked Witch
of the West (aka Sister Frances Dolores, his
first grade teacher)-drop in on the fun.
We open the book to a boldly abstract
four-color map of Oz and close it on a high
way map of Chicago. We discover that Oz
and Chicago (where the poet lived for four
years before coming to Santa Fe) have had
major influences on his writing. Their
landmarks appear throughout.
This is a poem he calls “Madison/
Wabash.” It is printed in bold type over a
faint reproduction from Sandburg’s
“Chicago.”
There’s different kinds, I want to say.
There’s different kinds of pain.
It takes all kinds: your ears go deaf
from squealing trains.
Your eyes get stares when you forget,
and smile at a commuter.
A blast of cold chills your soles.
The broken heater.
Your temples tense. Your mind goes flat
as highways, suburbs, prairies.
The land is flat for miles and miles.
You wait. You wait.
“A BEAUTIFUL BOOK IS A CONSERVATOR OF
KNOWLEDGE,” SAYS AlBA.
Your tongue tastes smoke.
That’s nothing new.
Your throat turns dark as night.
The sun falls down as lights appear.
Not stars. Lights.
Here is a pair of winsome, haiku-like
poems under the heading “wakes of
innocense”:
1/ memory of 1968
this Monarch alights
on my chest, opening,
closing, opening its wings
I run through the park;
look, mommy, look it flattens and flutters away
2/ mystery
the one I love
like my constant dog
is never in my dreams
the places I’ve lived
recur after I move
like the seasons in a year
{The College-
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
Some of the material in this small book is
set in acrobatic arrangements and various
sizes of type, some of it minuscule strips
across the top of a page requiring serious
squinting to discern the message, which is,
in this case, to follow the yellow brick road.
Several poems describe driving experi
ences. One limns road rage on Chicago’s
Edens Expressway. It is composed in the
shape of a balloon. The invocation is reprised
in tiny type in the shape of a butterfly.
When I met Alba, he was teaching a sum
mer writing and thinking workshop for
high school students in a Bard College pro
gram held at St. John’s. I told him my first
reaction was that his poetry, which I found
compelling and entertaining, but at the
same time challenging in both content and
typography, seemed a cross between Wal
lace Stevens and e.e. cummings. He
seemed to find the observation amusing,
which is how I intended it. Still, when I
suggested some readers might be put off by
having to turn his book upside down or
reach for a magnifying glass to read it or
leaf backward to confirm elusive refer
ences, he defended his approach earnestly.
“Poems are the hardest writing to make
public, to get read by people I don’t know,”
he said. “My poems are revealing and inti
mate, so I needed to publish them myself.
But I wanted most of all to make a beautiful
book, something one cannot see on the
Internet. A beautiful book is a conservator
of knowledge, not easily discarded, and its
content should engage the hands and body
as well as the mind of the reader. Touch is as
important as sight, which is why I ask the
reader to handle my book, move it around.”
Please don’t attack these pages hoping
to squeeze messages from my verses, he
seems to be saying. Rather, loaf, as Whit
man says, invite your soul, pause frequent
ly, read aloud, open yourself to my experi
ences and, of course, read them more than
once. As T.S. Eliot entreats us in the open
ing lines of The Love Song off. Alfred
Prufrock: “Oh, do not ask, ‘What is it?’ /
Let us go and make our visit.”
�{The Program}
GREAT BOOKS
FOR TOUGH TIMES
In a speech delivered to the Caritas Society on
October 2001, a tutor muses on the events ofthisfall
and the role ofSt. Johns in the larger community
By William Pastille
HEN I WAS FIRST ASKED TO
speak on this occasion, the
suggested topic was the role
of the college in the larger
community. That was last
summer, a time that now
seems unapproachably distant-a lifetime ago. What I
am about to say has become
a cliche, but I will say it anyway: On September ii, everything
changed. Our shock at the terrible loss of life in New York and in
Washington reminded us of the meaning of mortality; it reminded
us that we are creatures of a day only whose light can be extin
guished at any instant; it reminded us that every moment is a pre
cious treasure, given to us on loan and hkely to be withdrawn with
out the slightest notice. Some Americans even seem to be changing
the way they live as a result. Some things that seemed to make
sense before September ii no longer seem to make sense now.
It is only fitting, therefore, that the topic of this talk should
change somewhat as well. I will still speak mostly about the role of
St. John’s in the larger community that is our nation; but it might
be appropriate also to say a few words about what the study of the
Great Books offers to us at a time of crisis such as this.
The best way, I think, to give some impression of the value of
Great Books in these times is to tell some recent stories from the
classroom. Just yesterday, for instance, I was leading a small study
group which was discussing Plato’s Crito, a dialogue that takes
place in Socrates’ prison cell as he awaits his execution. At one
point in the text Socrates makes the following statement: “One
should never do wrong in return,” he says, “nor injure any man,
whatever injury one has suffered at his hands.” Immediately, one
of the students replied to this with a question: “If Socrates is
right,” she asked, ’’does that mean we shouldn’t have responded
to the terrorist attacks?”
This sort of thing has been happening frequently ever since
September ii. The students are finding the events of this time to
be intimately connected to the books they are reading. It is this
ability to make a personal connection across the centuries that
makes a book great. The Great Books speak just as powerfully to
us as they did to our forefathers and to their forefathers.
This is a time of conflict, and conflict is a major theme in many
of the Great Books. The first book that the freshmen read in their
seminar classes, Homer’s Iliad, focuses on the conflict of the Tro
jan war. It is about the overweening wrath of Achilles, the
strongest of the Greeks. In the week following the attacks, the stu
dents were coming to the end of the book, and another tutor told
me that, in his class, one of the young men became very upset at
various criticisms of Achilles that had been leveled by some of his
classmates. “How can you say such things about Achilles?” he
finally said. “I want to be like Achilles! ” When pressed for his rea
sons, it came out that he admired Achilles’strength and the power
it gave him to destroy his enemy utterly. And he added, “If we had
a few more Achilles today, Afghanistan would already be in ruins.”
At this juncture, my colleague said, anotheryoung man pointed
out that Achilles’ victory, which was motivated by an unconsid
ered and self-absorbed thirst for revenge, was won at the cost of a
great deal of death and suffering for his own people. You can imag
ine, in those days shortly after the attacks, when it was not clear
what the American response would be, that these issues were
intensely critical for the members of that class.
This sort of timely and intensely personal conversation can only
happen because the books speak so directly to us, no matter where
or when they were written. And that brings me to the first digres
sion I want to make concerning the contribution St. John’s makes
to the larger community: we contribute our graduates to the
nation. St. John’s believes that the truest service a college or uni
versity can do for its country is to educate the young to be the best
citizens they can possibly be. The principal obstacle preventing
this is a certain particularly American parochialism described by
Tocqueville-a widespread tendency in this country to ignore
other places and times. We are so chauvinistic about our national
superiority that many of us quite unconsciously seem to feel that
if it’s not happening in America, then it really doesn’t count. And
we’re so pragmatic as a people that many of us quite unconscious-
{The College -St. John’s
College • Fall 2001 }
�{The Program}
adults to discuss a series of the
ly seem to feel that if it’s not
Great Books over a long period
happening right now, it’s
of time. Two weeks ago I was
either dead and huried in the
leading
one of these seminars
past or inaccessible in the
in
Philadelphia,
and we were
future. Consequently we live
discussing
the
second
half of
far too much in the moment to
Homer
’
s
Odyssey,
in
which
develop the kind of long-term
Odysseus
returns
home
to
find
and global perspective that we
his
household
being
preyed
need to see the larger picture of
upon by the many suitors of his
hfe on earth.
abandoned wife Penelope. One
The program of study at St.
of the women in the group,
John’s is meant to counter this
after listening to lots of talk
focus on the present and the
about the action and plot of the
close-to-home.
St. John’s
story, finally said, “I’m sorry,
believes that the study of the
but
all 1 could think about while
Great Books opens up the larg
reading
this was the extra
er perspective an American
ordinary
restraint Odysseus
really needs to conscientiously
showed.
I
know
exactly what he
perform his function as a citi
must
have
felt:
1 am so angry
zen, because, unlike the citi
about
these
attacks
that I just
zens of some other nations, we
want
to
do
something,
any
are not merely the subjects of
thing,
to
strike
back.
But
1
have
the rulers, but the rulers of the
to keep restraining myself,
rulers. We must keep our eye on
because
1 know that lashing
the larger picture so that we can
outwon
’
thelp.
It’s almost tear
direct the actions of our repre
ing
me
apart.
”
This was, of
sentatives to the right ends, so
course,
a
few
days
before the
that we can criticize and correct
bombing
began.
them when they are wrong, and
Again, the book was speak
so that we can urge them on
ing
directly to the experience of
when they are right. The Great
this
woman, and again on a very
Books, we think, are the finest
timely
topic-the matter of self
preparation for citizenship
restraint.
The Great Books are
available to our nation’s young
replete
with
discussions of this
men and women, and St. John’s
issue.
For
instance,
in Tolstoy’s
contributes to the nation each
War
and
Peace,
the
masterful
year about 200 young men and
old
commander-in-chief
of the
women who are well-prepared
Russian
army.
General
Kutu
for the duties of citizenship.
William Pastille
zov,
spends
most
of
the
book
Let me return to another
restraining
the
younger
generclassroom story now. Some of
als and officers under his command from taking any action against
you may not know that St. John’s offers what we call “Executive
the
invasion by Napoleon. He suffers great criticism for being
Seminars” in Annapolis, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York,
senile,
unpatriotic, even treasonous, criticism levelled by those
Washington, and Chicago; these are monthly meetings for busy
John s believes that the truest
service a college or university can do
for its country is to educate the young
to be the best citizens they can possibly
be. Theprincipal obstaclepreventing
this is a certain particularly
American parochialism... ”
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�14
{TheProgram}
So knowledge can be taught,
but it cannot govern; wisdom,on the other hand
can govern, but it cannot be taught.
who feel that some response simply had to be mounted. But Kutu
zov was deeply in touch with the tide in the affairs of men; he
sensed that Napoleon was riding the crest of a wave and that to
attack that wave before it was ready to turn back from the shore
would simply lead to ruin for his forces and to subjugation for his
country. And he was right; once Napoleon reached Moscow, the
tide began to turn. Only then could a response from the Russians
be successful. Kutuzov’s restraint in the face of horrible losses
ended up saving the Russian nation.
We might ask ourselves. What do people like Odysseus and
Kutuzov know that allows them to exercise restraint when neces
sary and to act at the right moment? But it seems to me that this
question is improperly formed, because it is not their knowledge
that makes the difference, but their wisdom. And this brings me to
the second digression 1 want to make concerning what St. John’s
offers the larger community: through the study of the Great Books
we offer an entry into the love of wisdom, which is even more
important than knowledge when it comes to leading life well. If
colleges and universities take seriously the welfare of their stu
dents and their countries, they ought to be concerned about grad
uating people who not only have knowledge but who also have a
sense for how to use it well. But no amount of knowledge is suffi
cient for this end. Something besides knowledge is required for
the proper employment of knowledge. Why is that?
The simplest route to understanding the limitations of knowl
edge is to meditate on two familiar adages: “Knowledge is power”
and “Power corrupts.” Though we tend to accept both of these
adages quite readily, we seldom make a connection between them.
And yet the connection could not be simpler: if knowledge is
power, and power corrupts, then knowledge corrupts. Of course,
this is facile syllogizing that cannot stand up to logical scrutiny,
but the conclusion nevertheless contains a kernel of truth.
Knowledge can certainly be wielded as a sort of power; indeed our
society tends to advertise education and training as a source of
empowerment. And although power does not necessarily corrupt,
we all understand the temptations offered by power to bend the
rules, if not break them, for oneself and one’s inner circle. There
fore it simply is a fact that a person who uses knowledge as a
source of power will be tempted, and may succumb, to the cor
ruption that is offered by all sources of power. Consequently,
something besides knowledge is necessary if one is to avoid using
one’s knowledge poorly. What is that?
The answer, as the founders of the St. John’s program of study
knew, is wisdom. And so they wanted to add to the idea of the uni
{The College -
versity as an institution devoted to knowledge the further qualifi
cation that it should also be devoted to wisdom as the higher
source to which knowledge answers. But here they encountered a
problem that is truly insurmountable: wisdom, unlike knowledge,
cannot be taught. Wisdom requires judgment, and judgment
requires not just knowledge and the ability to draw conclusions
from knowledge, but also the sort of life-experience that engen
ders habits which make us tend toward the Good even when we do
not know what is right. And the sort of life-experiences that lead
to such habits cannot be provided by someone else, not even the
most skillful teacher; they must be lived through in the concrete
and practical situations that come up in daily life. So knowledge
can be taught, but it cannot govern; wisdom, on the other hand
can govern, but it cannot be taught. How, then, could wisdom,
being unteachable, take up a position in higher education beside
knowledge, which implies a great focus on teaching as the correl
ative to learning?
The answer is that it cannot. Wisdom itself stands above teach
ing and learning; as Socrates pointed out, it is either divine or
almost divine. But it is well within human capacities, as Socrates
also pointed out, to cultivate the love of wisdom, even if wisdom
itself lies beyond our reach; and perhaps the love of wisdom, if pur
sued diligently, can somehow communicate some of the qualities
of wisdom to the seeker, in the same way that any lover begins to
take on some of the attributes that are admired in the beloved.
What is more, love of wisdom is both teachable and learnable as a
form of contagious enthusiasm: the teacher’s love of wisdom can
be communicated to the student by example. So whereas wisdom
itself cannot find a place in the academy, love of wisdom can.
Indeed it should, if colleges and universities are concerned with
the good of the students who attend and the good of the societies in
which those students will be citizens; for it is love of wisdom alone
that can keep the students on track until they have enough judg
ment to guide themselves and their society well. And St. John’s
takes this obligation seriously: in addition to contributing to the
nation graduates who are well prepared for citizenship, we also send
forth graduates whose love of wisdom will steady them until they
acquire experience, judgment, and perhaps even wisdom itself.
Let me return to another story from the classroom. The week
after the attacks, 1 was leading a discussion with about eighteen
graduate students on Francis Bacon’s very brief essay On
Revenge. Bacon makes the following bald statement about the
prudence of taking revenge: “Wise people,” he says, “know that
they have enough to do in the present and with whatever might
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{TheProgram}
15
Ifcolleges and universities take seriously the welfare of
their students and their countries, they ought to be concerned
about graduatingpeople who not only have knowledge but
who also have a sensefor how to use it well
happen in the future. They don’t spend their time taking revenge.
People who spend their time worrying about past injuries just
waste their time.” Nowyou can imagine the electrifying effect that
statement had at a time when so many innocent lives had been so
recently lost, and when some people in the room desperately
hoped for retribution, while others were confused about the prop
er course that should be followed. Nevertheless, because all of the
students had been at St. John’s for a while and had learned how to
converse intensely but politely, we had a civilized, if highly
charged, conversation, and I think that everyone left the meeting
feeling that he or she had seen just a bit further into the complex
ities of justice and retribution.
This classroom story about graduate students and the earlier
one about the participants in the Philadephia Executive Seminar
bring me to the third and final point I want to make about St.
John’s contribution to the larger community; In addition to con
tributing to the nation young people who are very well-prepared
for citizenship and whose love of wisdom will help them to help
the country in years to come, St. John’s also offers its experience
in the study of the Great Books to adults.
St. John’s takes seriously this commitment to adults who are
long past school age. After all, those of us who teach here are
adults, and we do not keep doing it only because we enjoy helping
the young to find themselves, although we certainly do enjoy that
calling. We keep doing it also because continued exposure to the
Great Books and to the ideas of others keeps us steadily growing in
the same skills we hope to give to our students. For although we are
adults, we are also mindful of Socrates’ continual admonition that
we don’t really know who we are, because we always take ourselves
to be much more knowledgeable than we actually are. And the best
way to keep an awareness of this ignorance alive in ourselves is to
be constantly talking with others about the most important things
in hfe. The infinite variety of responses to life’s most important
questions will always keep us on our toes if we let it.
Since those of us who teach here are adults, and since we can
benefit from the Great Books in this way, there is no reason to
doubt that other adults could also benefit from what we do with the
Great Books, as long as they are willing to engage in civil discus
sion and are open to really trying to hear and understand the opin
ions of others. So St. John’s also has programs for adults that allow
them to participate in the conversation with the Great Books in a
number of different ways. In addition to the Executive Seminars
and the Master’s degree program already mentioned, our Santa Fe
campus has what is called the “Summer Classics” program, and we
{The
also offer what is called a “Continuing Education” program.
So, as I see it, St. John’s makes a three-fold contribution to the
larger community in times such as these: first, it produces young
people who are well prepared to shoulder the burdens of citizen
ship in these difficult times; second, it produces young people
whose love of wisdom can help them to make better choices in
these difficult times, both for themselves and for the nation; and
finally, it offers us adults the opportunity to continue to grow both
as citizens and as lovers of wisdom.
Let me leave you with one more story about a discussion with
students. This conversation happened outside of class, and, as it
happens, I do not even know the students I was speaking with, a
young man and a young woman who had joined a conversation
already in progress and remained after the other students left. The
young man had been reading Matthew Arnold’s famous poem
Dover Beach, which many of you probably learned in high school.
Well over a century ago, Arnold looked out across the English
Channel on a breezy evening, looked out on the ancient world that
had been bloodied so terribly in the European wars during the
hundred years before his time, and wrote the following lines:
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! For the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams.
So various, so beautiful, so new.
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light.
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight.
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
The young man recited the last line slowly. Thinking about the
current situation and the recurring violence in human affairs, he
said “Have we learned nothing at all? How can there be hope
when the ignorant armies continue to clash, year after year after
year?”
The three of us stood in silence for a while. Then the young
woman said, “But the poem gives the answer: ‘Ah, love, let us be
true,’ it says.”
The two of us looked at her quizzically.
“Well,” she drawled, as if she were belaboring the obvious,
“where there is love there is hope.” 4"
William Pastille is a tutor in Annapolis. He’s currently the direc
tor ofthe Graduate Institute.
COLLEGE'S:. John’s College ■ Fall noot }
�{Johnnies
on
Animals}
HEARTS o/ANIMALS
Reflections on our relationships
with other members ofthe wild kingdom.
By Sus3AN Borden,
A87
an an elephant hold grudges? Can a dog
experience separation anxiety? What
makes a horse love its rider? Do
animals have souls? Intelligence?
Emotions?
Johnnies have read Aristotle’s Parts of
Animals, dissected a sheep’s heart, strug
gled with the foundations for and implica
tions of Darwin’s Origin of Species. In
today’s lah curriculum, freshmen observe squirrels, spiders, and
seagulls. Seniors trace the ancestry of fruit fly families. In seminar
and tutorials, love and friendship are frequent topics of discussionfrom Plato’s Phaedrus to Yeats’ “When You Are Old And Gray.”
Alumni who enter careers that involve working with animals
continue to think about the relationships between humans and
animals-they are confronted with the conundrums of under
standing between the species every day. But even after years of
observing and caring for animals, they say there’s much they don’t
understand. In the end, we are left to wonder: what can we really
know about the heart of another?
Tales of Two Critters
Claudia Probst Stack (A88), a horse trainer, riding teacher, and
competitive rider, tells the story of a boy she once gave riding les
sons and his old, arthritic horse. “The boy wasn’t a bad kid, but he
was raucous and loved to ride hard,” she says. “He could be rough
on the horse. When he took off the tack and bridle, he didn’t
unbuckle it, he just pulled it off. Typically, a horse in his condition
would not want to have a lot to do with a boy like that, but this
horse loved that little boy. Every time the boy showed up at the
gate, the horse would come running over. He didn’t mind being
galloped around, even though I’m sure it hurt his joints.”
“What made that horse rise above his discomfort?” she asks.
“What was he getting out of it? Why did he enjoy that relationship?”
For Stack, these questions reflect the mystery of love-not only
between people and animals but, in a larger sense, any love.
“What brings any two critters together? Whether it’s a horse and
a person or two people, you always think to yourself: why are these
two together?” she says.
“I guess it’s hke many relationships that aren’t perfect and yet
are working. There seems to be some kernel at the heart of the
relationship that’s either good or bad. If it’s wrong from the start.
{The College-
it doesn’t matter how many supplements you give the horse or
what kind of equipment you buy for him.” If it’s right, she sug
gests, then a raucous boy can “ride the bejeesus” out of an arthrit
ic horse and the two will be happy together.
It’s not just the four-legged creatures who can find joy in a
seemingly mismatched relationship. Emergency veterinarian
Elizabeth MacDonald (SF83) says that in many cases, it’s the
nature of the person that determines the relationship. MacDonald
has worked with difficult dogs, including those she calls “real
problem children,” who are adopted from the pound after living
in stressful, often abusive situations. These dogs can thrive in the
care of committed, responsible pet owners. “They may shred the
house from stem to stern, they might constantly have accidents,
they may be barkers, yet these people are absolutely bonded to
them,” she says. “These are the lucky dogs. When it comes to
pound dogs, there are very few lucky dogs, but I’ve see them.”
MacDonald is convinced that the strength of the bond comes
from the person involved. “It’s not so much the temperament of
the animal. It comes from the people-how much they’re willing to
give, to sacrifice. My feeling is that animals are our responsibility,
our charge, not our right, but not everybody thinks like that.”
MacDonald sees a range of people in her practice. Some agree
that, once pets are taken in, the owner is responsible for them no
matter the inconvenience. At the other end of the spectrum are
the people who asked that their cat be euthenised after they’d
changed the color of their decor and it became obvious that the cat
shed too much. She has even encountered people who, when told
the cost of treating their cat, said it would be cheaper to buy
another than to treat their sick pet.
For the most part, people who would balance their cat’s life in
their checkbook have opted out of the game before they even meet
veterinary behaviorist Barbara Simpson (A71). Because she’s a
specialist, Simpson’s clients’ willingness to devote time and
money to their pets is demonstrated in the very fact that they are
consulting with her; they’ve shown they have a commitment that
goes beyond standard veterinary care.
“It’s sometimes astounding,” Simpson says. “There seem to be
quite a lot of people who have a very close relationship with their
companion animals. They share their beds with their animals and
work their schedules around them. They celebrate animal birth
days and take them on trips.” In a few cases these are single peo-
St. John's College - Fall 2001 }
�{Johnnies on Animals}
''Myfeeling is that animals are our responsibility,
our charge, notour right,
but not everybody thinks like that. ”
—Elizabeth MacDonald
[SF83]
“Are you my mother?” is the title of
AnNAPOLIS PHOTOGRAPHER
Amy Raab. The rancher raised the
THIS PICTURE BY
HEIFER, which HAD BEEN BORN DURING A
Wyoming spring snowstorm and
ABANDONED BY ITS MOTHER.
{The College . St John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
17
�i8
{JohnniesonAnimals}
y^nimals use the same signals
to communicate with people as they do
to communicate with each other.''
—Barbara Simpson
pie for whom a pet is a substitute for other companionship, or
adults who don’t have children but treat their dog like a child. But
this is by no means the rule. “These are often people who have
very normal relationships with other people, but are incredibly
attached to their animals,” she says.
Brain Eater
Unfortunately, man’s relationship to animals is not exclusively
one of love and devotion. Eric Scigliano {SF75), a Seattle-based
journalist whose book about elephants will be published this
spring, has explored in depth the relationship between man and
elephants. A key to understanding this complex relationship, he
says, is to realize that elephants are “uniquely non-domesticated
domestic animals.” Although they have been captured, trained,
and worked for more than three thousand years, elephants have
never been bred for docility or any other qualities. Genetically,
they’re still “pure,” wild animals. Whatever qualities of loyalty,
affection, and gentleness they show are those they are naturally
endowed with. This lack of genetically-manipulated docility
means that, while in some cases elephants are dominated by affec
tion, there will always be a role in the relationship for coercion
and intimidation.
Dominating a 12,000-pound creature through coercion and
intimidation is at best an uncertain enterprise. At worst, it can be
lethal. Scigliano describes the traditional relationship a mahout
(elephant keeper and driver) has with the Asian logging elephants
in his care: “It’s a lifelong relationship. The young elephants and
young boys grow up together, sleep together, live together. The
elephants have been known to sacrifice their lives for them,” he
says, “yet the mahouts can get themselves killed if they abuse
their elephants.”
He tells a story he heard in Sri Lanka about one rogue elephant
whom the national elephant catching team had been sent to catch
and relocate. The locals had named him Molekanna, Brain Eater.
This nickname seemed unthinkable, Scigliano says, because ele
phants are vegetarians, but the team had been dispatched after
the elephant was believed to have killed his eighteenth human.
Eventually, the team found the nineteenth victim, a school
teacher, with his head missing. When they finally captured the
elephant, they learned what had turned him into a carnivore. He
was a study in animal abuse: he had been blinded in one eye, per
haps by acid, was half blind in the other eye, and was full of gun
shot wounds. “Elephants remember abuse. They remember
friends and enemies,” Scigliano says. “They can take revenge
years later. That bit about an elephant never forgetting is pretty
{The College.
[A71]
close to the truth.”
Scigliano describes the roots of his own interest in elephants in
his book. Love, War and Circuses: The Age-Old Relationship
Between Elephants and Humans:
I still remember when I first felt the allure, though I never saw
circus elephants as a young child; we hved in Saigon, between
Vietnam’s French and American wars, where circuses fol
lowed European tradition and lacked grand animal spectacles.
But Saigon’s zoo had many beasts and few barriers separating
them from visitors; crocodiles lazed beneath a footbridge,
monkeys would escape their cage, and ayoung elephant would
reach her trunk across to visitors, nuzzhng their faces and tak
ing peanuts from their hands and whatever else seemed inter
esting from their pockets. I imagined that she recognized me
out of all the kids who thronged around her. Elephants’ noses
and memories are so discerning, perhaps she did.
Horse Midwife____________________________________
Lyn Desmarais’ (A83) introduction to animals was far less exotic;
she grew up working a family dairy farm in New Braintree, Massa
chusetts, with her brothers and sisters. She began milking cows at
age six and delivered her first calf by the time she was ten. It was
Desmarais’ responsibility to know when the cows were about to
calve so that, when the time neared, the cows could be kept in the
barn in case any problems arose during delivery.
“Every once in a while you’ll have miscalculated the due date or
a cow will outsmart you and run off,” she says. “We had 100
acres-plenty of pasture running in and out of woods, and springs
and brooks as well. When a pregnant cow ran off to calve, it was
often my job to get on a horse and ride back and forth covering
every foot of ground.”
Desmarais remembers one occasion when, after searching the
farm, she finally found the missing cow and her newborn calf. She
put a halter on the cow and tried to lead her back to the barn. “I
was yanking and yanking, but the cow was not going anywhere.
The next thing I knew, my horse was behind the calf, nudging it to
its feet and pushing it all the way to the barn.” The cow, of course,
followed her offspring.
Desmarais says there are two aspects of this story that interest
her. One is the horse’s understanding of how to get the cow and
her calf back to the barn. The other is the horse’s concern about
the calf. “I understand animals having a very strong sense of sur
vival,” she says, “but I don’t understand why they’d be so gentle
with the young of others.”
St. John’s College ■ Fall aooi }
�{Johnnies on Animals}
Simpson, the veterinary behaviorist, gives
the broad strokes of an explanation: “Mammals
are highly evolved, sophisticated beings and
they share the vast majority of their physiologi
cal systems with us-their brain structure, hor
mones, reproductive modes, maternal care-we
have a tremendous amount in common,” she
says. “Many animals also share complex social
behavior. They live in societies, have long-term
relationships, and demonstrate clear individ
ual recognition. These can be fairly complex
societies and with that goes complex communi
ty behavior.”
Behavior can become even more complex in
a society made up of more than a single
species. The result can be a bemusing positive,
as with Desmarais’ horse and calf. But the
complexity of inter-species societies can lead
to negative behavior as well.
If I Could Talk to the Animals
In her practice, Simpson sees many such nega
tive cases. Often they are the result of miscom
munication. “One of the disorders I treat is
separation anxiety in dogs,” says Simpson. “A
dog can get very attached and when the owner
leaves the house, the dog misbehaves, or is
destructive, or gets so nervous it eliminates in
the house. When the owner comes home and
finds what he’s done, he may punish the ani
mal. He may interpret the behavior as spiteful
rather than understand it as an anxiety disorder
for which sympathy and treatment are needed
rather than disciplinary measures.” Simpson
says this is a common failure to understand and
respond to what the dog is communicating.
“Animals have their own systems of commu
nication,” says Simpson. “Some of it is innate,
some learned. It is especially refined in social
species like dogs or horses. Animals use the
same signals to communicate with people as
they do to communicate with each other.”
As pet owners try to understand what ani
mals are communicating to them, horse riders
work to help their horses understand what
they are saying. Stack, a rider since age 8,
began to learn natural horsemanship when she
turned 25. She describes the method: “You use
body language to show the horse the direction
you want him to go, if you want him to speed
up or slow down. You either come at him or
back off, you kind of dance with him a little bit
to show him what you’re looking for.”
Stack uses dance as a metaphor for training
within a single ride. It also works as well to
Animal Bookijst
Claudia Probst Stack
Think Harmony With Horses by Ray Hunt
and Ground Work by Buck Brannamanboth these books are by the natural horse
manship experts whose work inspired the
book and movie The Horse Whisperer.
Eric Scigliano
Bonobo by Frans de Waal and Frans Lanting-a good introduction to our neglected
and fascinating “next of kin.”
The Elephant in the Greek and Boman
World H.H. Scullard and The First Fos
sil Hunters by Adrienne Mayor-elephants
in classical history, war, and myth.
The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy-this
novel is a remarkable effort to imagine
the African elephant’s consciousness and
world.
To Whom It May Concern: An Investiga
tion ofthe Art ofElephants by David
Gucwa and James Ehmann-a quirky but
intriguing account of the first elephant
drawing project.
Elephant Tramp by Shm Lewis-the best
circus memoir.
Burmese Timber Elephant by U Toke
Gale, and Elephant Billby J.H. Williams
best memoirs of working with elephants
in Asia.
Ganesa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord ofBegin
nings by Paul B. Courtright-a scholarly
study of the elephant-headed god.
Lyn Desmarais
Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight
AU Creatures Great and Small and other
books by James Herriot
BeautifulJoe by Marshall Saunders
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
“The Most Dangerous Game”
by Roald Dahl (a short story)
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Barbara Simpson
Know Your Dog: An owner’s guide to dog
behavior\sy Dr. Bruce Fogle
Know Your Cat: An owner’s guide to cat
behartorWXIt. Bruce Fogle
The Expression ofthe Emotions in Man
andAnimaki by Charles Darwin
{The College-
19
describe the communication between a horse
and rider throughout a long-term partnership,
allowing the rider to communicate more
abstract things, such as good judgment and
trustworthiness. “You have to put horses in
situations where you can show them they can
do what you’re asking them to do,” Stack says.
“You build up a trust, let them know that
you’re not going to put them in a bad fix. In
eventing [an equestrian triathlon, more or
less], you can’t really fake it. There are some
disciphnes where, if you can hold the horse
together for 10 or 20 minutes, you can fool the
judge. But in eventing, when you hit a cross
country course that the horse has never seen,
you know really fast where you are in your
training.”
Trust. Communication. Anxiety. Gentle
ness. Revenge. Love. Devotion.
Are our relationships with animals really
that complicated? What about the role of
dependence? Maybe we’re reading a lot into
animals’ good-sense policy of not biting the
hands that feed them.
“People think it’s all about food but it’s
not,” says Stack. “I never hand-feed my horse
and I don’t give him treats. But if I call him, he
comes right over.” She describes a time when
she was pregnant and unable to ride. She still,
of course, fed and cared for her horse. “He
knew something was up,” she says. “Every
time I came to the barn my horse would just
look at me in a way that said, ‘What happened?
We used to do things together. We used to go
out all the time.’ ” 4"
Lyn Desmarais (A83) grew up working a dairy
farm in Massachusetts. She raises butterflies, is
part of a program to reintroduce bluebirds to
Massachusetts, and has near-future plans to
raise honey bees and begin small-scale farm
ing. She lives in Weston, Mass.
Elizabeth MacDonald (SP83) is an emergency
veterinarian. Her clinic is in Ardmore, Pa.
Eric Scigliano (SE75) is a journalist whose
work has appeared in the New York Times,
Outside, The New Yorker, Mother Jones,
Newsweek, and the Utne Reader. He lives in
Seattle.
Barbara Simpson (A71) is a veterinary behavior
ist. Her clinic is in Southern Pines, N. C.
Claudia Probst Stack (A88) is a horse breeder,
trainer, riding teacher, and competitive rider.
She lives in Rocky Point, N. C.
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{Faculty Books}
JOB’S LIFE
THROUGH NEW EYES
Robert Sacks'trarbslation ofthe Book ofJob helps
readers re-examine some important questions.
By Mark Sanfilippo, SFGIoo
he Book of Job...is a constant play
between the way in which a lovely surface
can obscure a darker center and the way
in which our view of the deeper intent of
things can often obscure our view of
their simple surface.”
In many ways, this quotation from The
Book ofJob with Commentary: A Trans
lation for our Time (Scholars Press) by
Santa Fe tutor emeritus Robert Sacks sums up the book’s effort.
Sacks’ translation focuses not only on the simple surface-level
beauty of the text, but it also tries to present a way to comprehend
the deeper secrets housed within those words. Sacks never seems
to lose sight of the nature of the work at hand-that the Book of Job,
in addition to being a theological/philosophical text, is just as
importantly a work of literature. While accuracy is indeed a moti
vating factor for a scholarly translation, a bit of an artist’s hand is
required of the translator when the piece is to be enjoyed for the
beauty of its words and phrasing as much as for their content.
Sacks prefaces his translation with a brief introduction in which
he recalls the dichotomy of Greek philosophy and the Hebrew
Bible-or Athens and Jerusalem, as he puts it. Sacks states that
these two traditions, while they address many of the same ques
tions, do so from such different standpoints that oftentimes mak
ing a comparison of the resulting “answers” is all but impossible.
He believes that the Book of Job touches on some of the questions
most central to Greek philosophy and does so in such a way as to
make a comparison of Athens and Jerusalem not only possible,
but inevitable. This has led him to an exploration of the Book of
Job. Luckily for the students of both the Bible and the develop
ment of Western thought, Sacks was kind enough to make a good
record of that exploration.
The first half of the book consists of the translation. Here one
notices immediately that he does indeed have the necessary
“artist’s hand,” for the text flows effortlessly and its images come
{The College-
across in clear, striking tones. Sacks has provided ample footnotes
to aid those tvith little or no knowledge of Hebrew. He makes dis
tinctions between the various usages of words like LORD, GOD,
God, and The Almighty, which are consistent and correspond to
the original text. In addition, he attempts to convey in English the
ambiguities latent within those all too frequent Hebrew words
that have multiple definitions, e.g. horn/light/ray.
Sacks says that one verse in particular inspired him to produce
his own version of this difficult text: verse 6 in chapter 42. The
King James Version reads: “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent
in dust and ashes.” Sacks explains that this line brought to a cUmax his misgivings about the existing translations. The verse
comes after God has rumbled from the clouds and left Job
awestruck; it is in many ways the summation of what his experi
ence has been. But Job doesn’t abhor himself, and to have him say
so in this final part of the book distorts the thrust of the story.
Robert Sacks’ version of 42:6 reads: “Wherefore I have both
contempt and compassion for dust and ashes.” Job’s realm of
understanding at this point has far surpassed the solipsism of a
“why me?” character; Job is not simply concerned about himself
or his lot. That wasn’t his dilemma to begin with, and Sacks felt
that the existing translations were incorrect in conveying this
meaning. Job’s was a cosmic question dealing with the nature of
justice. By this time. Job has come to possess a balance of con
tempt and compassion for the necessarily dual existence of man
(“dust and ashes”)-his existence as both a part of Nature and sep
arate from Nature.
The second half of the book consists of commentary. This por
tion remains true to its name in that Sacks resists trapping himself
in a “Job theory” and then simply applying such a theory to the
text in its entirety. Instead, he comments on the chapters and does
so with a driving inquisitiveness that pulls the reader along. While
he does track and expand on themes like the realm of human logic
vs. the realm of cosmic/Godly logic and civilization vs. the Land of
the Jackals, Sacks doesn’t resist the urge to explore whatever
St. John's College ■ Fall 2oof }
�{Faculty Books}
ai
Sacks never seems to lose sight ofthe nature
ofthe work at hand— that the Book ofJob,
in addition to being a theological/philosophical text,
isjust as importantly a work ofliterature.
might seem of interest in each
chapter, be it a word that is used
in a noteworthy fashion, or the
history of a phrase’s usage
throughout Biblical literature,
or even a comparison of other
translations.
The question that Sacks feels
is most central to the text“Shall a man be more just than
his God?”-is played with
throughout the commentary,
inevitably becoming a question
of “What is Justice?” Job is
forced to deal with his prior
“knowledge” of justice being
shattered or superseded. How is
he to come to terms with the
dissolution of what he previous
ly held to be permanent?
Sacks says: “The surface
world, to which Job has commit
ted himself to taking seriously,
is a crazy, contradictory world.
full of wisdom, valor, and madness, full of roads to glory that lead
nowhere. The simple world of growing corn and barking dogs has
become more like a Picasso still life which when it first comes to
sight seems to be no more than a blue bottle and a bowl of fruit
lying on a country table. Yet as one looks on, order begins to evap
orate, and one begins to wonder how, if Durac is right, Ptolemy
could ever have even seemed to be right.”
The rules/maxims that had formerly ruled Job’s life (and had
apparently “worked”), no longer apply. Even Job’s “friends” (hav
ing never experienced his level of disillusionment and pain) can
offer no sympathy or compassion, and their bhnd adherence to tra
{The College-
dition just simply won’t jibe
with Job’s new-found perspec
tive.
Of particular interest in the
commentary section is the
chapter entitled “Reflections
on ir:6.” This chapter delves
into the nature of the word
“perversion” as it is used
throughout Bibhcal literature.
The word comes from the Latin
meaning “to twist through and
through.” The effect of perver
sion, this twisting, necessarily
spans
generations.
Sacks
explains it like this: “In the
Torah there is a general tenden
cy to use the wordperversion to
refer to those acts of the fathers
which have a lasting and devas
tating effect on the whole of the
nation: for example, black slav
ery in early America. Or, to put
it in other words, even an immigrant who has newly become a citizen of this country, although he.
like all others, is innocent of any crime his father may have com
mitted, has by virtue of becoming part of us, inherited a debt to the
Native American Peoples, a debt which we shall never be able to
pay in full.” These perversions of the fathers affect the branches of
the children for generations, and the only relief in sight hes in ritu
al and, in the case of the Old Testament, sacrifice.
There is much ofinteresttobe found in The Book of Job, and Mr.
Sacks’ translation and commentary serves as a good guide book. It
points us in several different directions of possible interest, but
leaves the ultimate decision of what to explore to the reader.
St. John ’5 College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{Faculty Books}
MUCH ADO
ABOUT NOTHING
Eva Brann examines three subjects of
non-being in aphilosophical trilogy.
By Barbara Goyette,
A73
t first glance, the imagination, time,
and negativity don’t seem to have much
in common as topics of thought, except
perhaps that no single philosopher or
writer has produced the definitive book
on any of them. Threads of their myster
ies are woven into many of the great
books though, from Plato to Newton to
Tolstoy. They tickle our minds with
feathery wisps of interest but don’t become as solidly consuming
as the larger questions of being, human emotion and perception,
knowledge, or nature.
But to Eva Brann, a tutor since 1957 and dean in Annapolis from
1990 to 1997, these three are related in more profound ways. She’s
written a trilogy of books about how we deal with and think about
them. And for her, the topics all derive from a fascination with
it’s hard to express this without sounding like one of the impossi
bly dense St. John’s metaphysics readings-that which has no real
being. Imagination is “a vision of something not actually there,”
time trades in memory, a picture-as in imagination-of what no
longer exists, and “naysaying,” our ability for negativity, is some
how a font of dialectic and understanding.
She may be examining what’s not, but everything Eva Brann
writes is full of ...stuff. Open her book The World ofthe Imagina
tion randomly, for example to pages 750 and 751, and find discus
sions of or references to: Bachelard on Herman Hesse, a Chinese
landscape painter who “wandered off into the space projected by
his own imagination,” Wordsworth, Don Quixote’s grand notion
of reality, Santayana’s “normal madness,” T.E. Lawrence on the
fort of ancient Azrak, Guy Davenport on Grant Wood’s images of
Iowa, and Louis L’Amour’s westerns.
The acuity of her examples and her ability to bring disparate
ideas into contact with each other are hallmarks of Brann’s writ
ing. Pages 750 and 751 contain the end of a discussion about
Proust and the beginning of a discussion about imaginative
places. That the imagination can turn “space into place insofar as
it is ... a propensity for projecting human feeling into space and a
readiness to be affected by its local presences” can be demonstrat
ed by citing examples from literature. Brann’s Don Quixote exam
{The College-
ple is particularly illuminating. Don Quixote attacks a band of
windmills which he sees as monstrous giants. He is dragged off his
horse and suffers bruises. Sancho Panza delivers the obligatory “I
told you so.” Everyone knows the basics of this story. But Brann
finds the imaginative wellspring of Cervantes’ hero to make her
point. “An old enemy, a sorcerer wise in the black arts, wishing to
cheat the Don of his glory, has turned the giants into windmills. It
is Sancho Panza’s prose, not Don Quixote’s poetry, that is delud
ed,” she writes. “The point, implicit but crucial, is that it is our
mundane soulless world of flour-grinding windmills that is under
a spell, a reverse or disenchanting spell cast by the enemies of
glory. This spell is the ... pervasive notion that the ordinary is the
actual.” Through Don Quixote’s imagination, the spell is broken
and the true landscape emerges.
The deep mystery of the imagination
Brann attributes her initial interest in the imagination-which
ultimately led to development of the themes in the trilogy-to the
heavily intellectual content of the St. John’s program. “We always
focus on the use of reason. That induces an appetite for imagining
and reading works of fiction,” she says. Although she wrote many
articles and two interpretive books during the first thirty years
she was teaching, Brann says that the push to think more thor
oughly about the faculty of imagination was different in character.
She felt her own imagination coming alive, “blooming,” as a com
plement to the rigors of the program. “It’s the opposite of what
people might think,” she says.
In 1978-9 she spent ayear away from St. John’s at Whitman Col
lege in Walla Walla, Washington. “It was beautiful there, so dif
ferent. The landscapes reminded me of that Beatles movie The Yel
low Submarine. I used to ride around the golden and mauve hills
and look at the little cabins, and I began to think I’d like to write
about the workings of the imagination.”
She began the project by reading everything she could find on
the subject. Whitman had a good hbrary, so she read widelyphilosophers, psychologists, artists. She found few serious books
on the imagination, but much material that was useful to her proj
ect. When philosophers wrote about the faculty, she found, they
didn’t seem to uncover it completely. “Kant called it a mystery too
St. John's College • Fall 2001 }
�deep to write about,” she notes. In the new science of cognitive
psychology Brann discovered some important leads. “The psychol
ogists had gotten into a terrific battle about whether or not we
actually have a mind’s eye,” she says. “It was plain to me that we do
have internal pictures. But what does that mean? What are they?”
When she actually got down to writing the book, she found that
her real work would be to bring together the thousands of things
she had read, thought about, and seen. Once the organization was
clear, however, the book quickly took shape. The World of the
Imagination: Sum and Substance (published in 1991 by Rowman &
{The College-
Littlefield) is a large book-800 pages. There is a chronological
accounting of how various philosophers from Plato through
Wittgenstein dealt with the imagination; a discussion of the psy
chological aspects of the imagination: consciousness, representa
tion, direct perception, and theories about how visual imagery
occurs physically; a consideration of the metaphysics of images
(are they nonexistent entities? are fictional objects real in any
way?); a discussion of literature as the words representing the
visions of imagination; an examination of imagination and space,
including various geometries and visual art forms; and, finally, a
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
�{FacultyBooks}
^4
^Ifl di^ up a Greekpot,
that is not ancient, it ispresent.
The only aspect ofantiquity
is what I imagine about it.
look at “worldly” imagination: images of the divine, creation of
utopias, public vision, common imaginative landscapes. “I tried to
write about what, in each discipline, the essence of the imagination
is, and then I wrote a soberly romantic conclusion,” says Brann.
Her conclusion-which she unashamedly calls her favorite
part-outlines the important role that imagination plays in human
action. “You can’t act purposefully unless you have a mental
image of how things ought to be,” she says. This imaginative
mechanism applies to pohtical and social action, and also in a
deeper way to everyday life. “Unless there are days on which you
are filled with the image of something loveable, your life, your job,
your work will be dry as dust,” she says. Where do the images
come from? From reading, memories, your childhood. “Good
images, those that are usable for us, have a certain gauziness
about them,” they are not too precise, she says. Precise images
don’t give us enough breathing room, space for actions and reali
ty to interact with what our imaginations devise. Brann doesn’t
use Don Quixote as an example for this point, but it’s helpful to
think of how broadly the errant knight takes his charge: every
event, every item in daily use takes on a new and different mean
ing under his gaze; imagination has the power to transform.
The what, when, and where of time
Brann’s second book. What, Then, Is Time?, yN^s, written in 1998,
after she spent seven years as dean of the college. During her
tenure as dean, she didn’t “think anything out, there wasn’t
reflection.” Administration calls for a different type of thinking
deliberating rather than contemplating. She was hungry for
reflection, and for what comes from reflection when you’re Eva
Brann-writing. “When 1 handed the keys to the dean’s office to
Harvey [Flaumenhaft], I sat down and could hardly stop writing,”
she says. (Indeed, after the book about time, she produced two
more-7%e Ways of Naysaying, published in aooi, and a book
about the Odyssey, to be published this spring. )
In answer to the question of how time became the second sub
ject for her consideration, Brann says in her introduction: “My
previous preoccupation had been with the imagination. It turned
out that to think about the imagination entailed thinking about its
treasure-house and workshop, that is, memory. But memory is
largely (though not altogether) of the past, and the past is a phase
of time.” Another source for the imagination is more elusive yet:
{The College-
memory of things that never were. Fiction writers, she notes,
draw from a deep fund of such memories. And as readers of fic
tion, we shde in and out of worlds that are constructed of such
memories; strangest of all is that we can somehow share the land
scapes of these worlds.
She approached the book about time in the same way as the
book about imagination-with extensive reading on the subject.
However, the organization of the book is not based on the
approaches of the various disciplines to the basic questions, as the
first book was. Instead, Brann devised an ingenious pairing of
thinkers. Plato and Einstein, she notes, both view time as a clock
(Plato posited a cosmic clock, Einstein a local and “artificial
device”); Aristotle and Kant consider time as something meas
ured by the human soul. Other pairs include Plotinus and Heideg
ger, Augustine and Husserl, Hegel and Bergson. The pairings
show, among other things, that the problems we have with under
standing time have not changed over the millennia.
The second part of What, Then, Is Time? contains Brann’s own
reflections on time; here the connections to imagination are made
more clearly. She looks at what it means to have memory: “You go
into the storehouse of your imagination and flip through a file. If
you flip for a long time it is an old memory, if not, it is newer.
Therefore the past arises by the study of the imagination.” Even
concrete objects from the past do not give a true sense of time,
because “we always live right on the cusp of the present.” She
offers an example from her former life as an archaeologist: “If I
dig up a Greek pot, that is not ancient, it is present. The only
aspect of antiquity is what I imagine about it.”
In a discussion of what she calls time pathologies, Brann
explores some of the “practical effects on the economy of life and
the choice of ends” that certain attitudes toward time bring about.
She is particularly interested in the future, since she considersalong with the minor devil of C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Lettersthat “nearly all vices are rooted in the future” and that there is a
“widespread current enslavement to the future.” The examples
she cites to confirm her view are well-known. We revel in the fast
tempo, the novelty, of modern life, but an ever-increasing push for
novelty will lead to things happening at a speed that human expe
rience can’t take in. The emphasis then switches from thoughtful
reaction to past experience as a basis for dealing with what the
St. John ’5 College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{Faculty Books}
as
We revel in thefast tempo, the novelty,
ofmodern Ife, but an ever-increasingpushfor
novelty will lead to things happening at a speed
that human experience can i take in.
future might bring to a kind of
frantic projection toward what
is imagined to be inevitable
(“prepare to meet the future or
be overwhelmed by it,” as the
saying goes). Brann worries
about the effects of this futuremindedness on our ability to
be happy because it so strongly
burdens our present. She
quotes Octavio Paz: “Whoever
builds a house for future hap
piness builds a prison for the
present.”
Something from nothing
In the third book Brann under
took, she considered what was common to imagination and timethe “non-.” Imagination is of what does not exist and time is what
no longer exists. “Both capacities for seeing images and for hav
ing a sense of time are governed by something intellectual. It’s the
ability we have for negativity, for non-being,” she says. In The
Ways ofNaysaying: No, Not, Nothing, and Nonbeing, published
in 2001 by Rowman & Littlefield, Brann explores our many kinds
of negative saying and thinking.
She begins with children and the ubiquitous tendency among
them, when aged around two, for saying “no” and refusing to
accommodate our wishes for them. She points out that the saying
of “no” is often in conflict with the child’s action (every parent
has seen a dashingly independent toddler refusing to drink her
juice while simultaneously clutching the cup to her lips); “the
naysaying does not concern the objective issue but the ownership
of the will,” she says. “Along with the will and from the same
source, from naysaying, comes thoughtfulness.” A child includes
“no” among the very first words uttered, and as the child’s capac
ity for exerting will develops, so too do language and thought.
Brann argues that this delight in negativity is the beginning of the
ability to discriminate and make reasoned choices.
Brann cites a saying which “happens to be the fundamental dic
tum pinpointing the crucial constructive function of naysaying,”-Ozn«M determinatio est negatio, which translates: All deter
{The C
o ll eg e
•
mined devotion involves some
naysaying. Thus, far from being
a dark, dreary path, the study of
negativity is “the most wonder
ful subject,” says Brann. She
goes on to discuss the logical
implications of non-existence,
fictions of imagination, the
metaphysics of non-being,
Hegelian negativity, the noth
ing that is the “supreme attain
ment of the East,” and finally,
how “nothing” becomes, for
philosophers like Heidegger,
the source of Being. Along the
way there are side-routes that
investigate many of the most mysterious of the St. John’s perenni
al seminar questions like how the appearances are both not the
original being and yet like the original (Plato’s question in the
Republic, the Sophist, and other dialogues).
Perhaps it is this reiteration of the questions called to mind in
the St. John’s seminar readings that makes Eva Brann’s books so
interesting. One needn’t be a Johnnie to recognize the impor
tance of these questions, but for those who’ve read the same books
Brann has spent the past 30 years with, her treatment of the issues
is a re-illumination. The startling juxtapositions-Plato and Ein
stein, for example-and the insights into the books-Don
Quixote’s world as the rightside up one, the flour-grinding wind
mills as the upside down one-seem to epitomize the places we’d
all like our minds to carry us. In addition to raising and discussing
the perennial issues, Brann has a knack for reminding us of the
moral dimensions and implications for human action that accom
pany philosophic points of view.
Half apologetically, Brann calls her books the Trilogy of the
Human Center. They are about what lies between the sense and
the intellect. While students we were sometimes abashed at living
in any world other than that of the intellect, and as we’ve grown
we’ve become more comfortable in the middle ground-the place
of imagination and memory. That she shows us so much of the
“stuff’ at the human center is certainly not nothing.
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
�{Homecoming}
TALE OF TWO
HOMECOMINGS
Whether to Santa Fe in July or Annapolis in September,
alumni like revisiting their college days.
Santa Fe
another. At the post-lecture reception, they showed their books,
he Program, the tutors, the students, the campus:
talked about their publishing work, and displayed no persisting
alumni remember their time at the college as a func
rancor from their deep disagreement earlier in the evening.
tion of all four (and perhaps of some unnamed factors
The later evening led inevitably to the coffee shop party, where
as well). At Homecoming in Santa Fe this July, where
the class of ’76 reveled in the contribution of A.T. Michael Mac
alumni flocked back to campus to celebrate the
Donald
reunions of the classes of 1996,1991,1986,1981,1976,1971,
and (SF76), who burned a hit parade CD of dance tunes from
room parties from their era. We’re talking Hollywood
1966, all the elements of nostalgia were present in force, as commons
class
Swingin’, Signed Sealed Delivered, and Respect.
mates reunited, returned to seminar and lecture, and partied the
Saturday morning, on the other hand, brought seminar, a more
night away with the traditional gusto of liberal artists.
programmatic experience. There was the gamut to choose from:
From the very first, all went well hatted: at registration Friday
Mr. Carey on Dostoevsky’s Notesfrom the Underground, Ms. Reaafternoon. Alumni Director Tahmina Shalizi and her able assis
hard on Basho’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Mr. Davis
tants Leslie Wolfe (SF03), Anna Perleberg (SFoa), and John
and Ms. Adam on Balzac’s Gobseck, Mr. Cornell on Chekhov’s The
McCarthy (SFoi) gave out stylish low-rise khaki baseball caps
Black Monk, and Mr. Bybee on Plato’s Meno. From there, all
with the SJC monogram on the front and “aooi” on the back.
repaired to the soccer field for the traditional fiesta picnic, with
After the barbecue dinner on the Placita, it was time for lecture
fun for kids, including a pinata, and group photos for the reunion
in the newly outfitted Great Hall. The universally deplored buck
classes.
et-slouch chairs, used in the Great Hall from the start (because the
The Annual Meeting of the Alumni Association was held after
chairs in the Great Hall must be stackable), have at long last been
lunch in the portico of the new Student Activities Center. For
supplanted by-brace yourselves-comfortable chairs. Still stack
many of the alumni, it was their first encounter with the buildingable, but with actual arms, and straight backs, and attractive
the most frequently overheard remark was “Wow.” At the meet
maroon upholstery. The alumni gasped. The alumni stared. The
ing, John Balkcom (SFGIoo), president of the Santa Fe campus,
alumni sat. The alumni smiled.
and David Levine (A67), dean of the Santa Fe campus, reported on
The lecture was also a treat. Dana Densmore (A65) and Bill
the state of the college; and Glenda Eoyang (SF76), president of
Donahue (A67) gave a point-counterpoint talk entitled “Bringing
the Alumni Association, reported on the association’s year. Elec
the St. John’s Ethos Into the Real World.” Ms. Densmore defend
tions were held: Jason Walsh (A85), Mark Middlebrook (A83), and
ed the thesis that all the Great Books are true, while Mr. Donahue
Clint Lively (A78) were elected as alumni representatives to the
maintained that all the Great Books are wrong. Bold assertions on
Board of Visitors and Governors; and Bill Tilles (A59), Valerie
both sides! The Densmore/Donahue team does more than argue
Pawlewicz (A89), Martha Jordan (SFGI86), Robert George (A85),
politely about extreme ideas: they are the founders of Green Lion
and Amber Boydstun (SF99) were elected to serve as directors on
Press, which publishes works in the history of science, from New
the Alumni Association board. Michael Rodriguez, Director of
ton to Aristotle to Faraday to Euclid; and they are married to one
T
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{Homecoming}
Tutor Peter Kalkavage with alumni from the ’80s - top left;
Dana Densmore (A65) and Bill Donahue (A67) lecturing in
Santa Fe - bottom left; a group meets up on the quad, just like
2,7
Annapolis_____________________________
uring Homecoming weekend in Annapolis this
September, the St. John’s-bred dichotomy of
“Same and Other” seemed to take center stage.
Johnnies attend Homecoming looking for the
Financial Aid, and Richard Lampert, a founder of the Library and
same: they want to talk with their same tutors,
Fine Arts Guild, were made Honorary Alumni. Mr. Lampert said
enjoy the same mental excitement they once felt in semin
he hoped that the new Student Activities Center would spur the
eat in the same dining hall where they once spent hours disc
college on to fielding a foothall team, because it had been his life
virtue, justice, and whether the coffee shop’s milkshakes were as
long dream to he able to relax in front of the television with a heer
good as those at Chick ‘n’ Ruth’s.
of a Saturday afternoon, to root for his alma mater.
But while Johnnies come seeking the same, they’re often most
The Saturday night banquet saw the reunion classes gather in
excited by what is other. They explore the
the Great Hall for a fine meal, toasts to
renovations of Mellon Hall and wander
themselves and each other, a few short and
ii5TH eunion for
i ks
through the Greenfield Library and the
excellent speeches (Mike MacDonald
Barr-Buchanan Center. When they get the
SF76 received the alumni award of Meritchance, they chat with current students to
see p. 39), and dancing into the wee hours. The first event of the weekend was a private party
hosted by Rick Lightburn (SF76) and his brother-inlearn what effects MTV and the Internet
The hallmark of a successful Homecom
law, Claiborne Booker (A81), to celebrate the reunion
have had on the logos. And in seminar, in
ing, it seems, is exhaustion, happy exhaus of the class of 1976. A warm summer evening on the
the same classrooms where they once sat,
tion. Not too much exhaustion, however, Bookers’ pristine courtyard provided the perfect
perhaps even discussing the same text,
to go to the President’s Brunch at the Hunt backdrop for catching up and reminiscing. Victoria
they sometimes learn just how “other”
House Sunday morning, the laid-hack yet Hanley (SF76) showed classmates her new book The
Seer and the Sword, while Glenda Eoyang (SF76)
they themselves have become.
elegant end to the weekend’s festivities.
shared her thoughts on being president of the Alum
Homecoming itself is a play of same and
All in all, what was heard around the cam ni Association. And everyone got a kick out of an old
pus this weekend was delight at the event class picture: there they were in their flashy 70’s garb other. Some activities have been repeated
so often you’d think they were started hy
itself, pleasure in seeing the college thriv with flaring collars, feather boas and all. The party
Barr and Buchanan: the alumni soccer
ing and improving, and renewed fondness was a great success and proved to he a perfect kick
off for the weekend’s events.
classic, the picnic lunches, the coffee shop
for all things St. John’s.
party, and the Sunday brunch stay largely
by John McCarlhy(SF01)
IN THE OLD DAYS - RIGHT.
D
R
{The College -St
-6
John ’5 College . Fall 2001 }
�2,8
{Homecoming}
The class of ’8i reprises “West Street Story,” their prank skit TOP left; typical seminar gestures are never forgotten - BOTTOM
left; alumni children discuss Harry Potter during their own
seminar-RIGHT.
the same from year to year. But this year the Alumni Office
(Roberta Gable, Ay8, assisted by Dolores Strissel) tinkered with a
few of the old activities and introduced some new ones to make the
weekend just a little more “other” than Homecomings past.
One new event, a career panel, started the weekend with a
bang. A panel of la alumni discussed their careers and career
paths before a standing-room-only crowd of current students and
young alumni. During the discussion the room was so quiet you
could hear a pin drop. When the formal part of the panel ended,
students were invited to step up and talk with the alumni whose
work interested them. The students positively (but politely)
lunged for the alumni, and many talked for so long at the 6:30
p.m. event that they missed lecture.
While those who stayed were happy with the way they spent
their time, those who attended lecture said it was not one to miss.
Annapolis tutor-on-leave Abraham Schoener (A8a), who is study
ing viticulture in Napa, spoke about “The Biology of the Fermen
tation Vessel,” a suitable prelude to the wine and cheese party
with current seniors that followed. For those whose tastes ran to
beer and chips rather than brie and cabernet Sauvignon, a boat
house party was held with music requested by the class of’76. “No
disco” was the rule, although a Rod Stewart song managed to fall
into the mix. The incident spawned no complaints.
The next morning brought alumni back to the classroom with
leaders Douglas Allanbrook (HA85), Eva Brann (HA89), Samuel
Kutler (A54), Chaninah Maschler (HA98), Bill Pastille, John
Sarkissian, Malcolm Wyatt, Peter Kalkavage, Joan Silver (MA76),
Nick Maistrellis, and Curtis Wilson (HA83) leading seminars on
{The College.
readings from Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye to Augustine’s Con
fessions to Robert Frost’s “Black Cottage.” Susan Ashmore (A76)
and Adam Wasserman (A76) led a seminar on Harry Potter for
children of alumni.
Afternoon events included Freshman Chorus Revisited, where
tutor emeritus Elliott Zuckerman (HA95) led alumni in classics
such as “Gaudeamus Igitur,” “The Heavens Are Telling,” and
“Ave Verum.” The class of 1981 staged a reprise of their senior
prank skit, “West Street Story.”
Outside by the gym, the soccer classic proved an exciting game
despite the students’ victory, and in the bookstore an autograph
party brought together nine authors and scores of readers.
One of the best changes made to Homecoming this year was the
moving of registration and the Saturday evening cocktail party to
McDowell Hall. With the fireplace room of the coffee shop pro
viding a warm backdrop for registration, the bright elegance of
the Great Hall and McDowell classrooms made the cocktail party
a special affair. A series of moving toasts-thankfulness for com
munity in the face of what had happened earlier in the monthgraced the Saturday night banquet and Mr. Zuckerman played the
piano for the waltz party afterwards. A coffee shop party DJ’d by
Robert George kept alumni dancing until the wee hours. Those
who managed to turn in early were able to play croquet on the
front lawn Sunday morning and still make it to the President’s
House in time for a champagne brunch.
While Homecoming’s “other” events were a hit with alumni, the
“same” seemed to carry the day. Bill Pastille’s seminar on Augus
tine’s Confessions was as enjoyably contentious as any sophomore
ever witnessed. Eva Brann, whose seminar was on an essay by
anthropologist Clifford Geertz, said that not only was the reading
about a cockfight, but a cockfight almost broke out in the class.
Homecoming reports were written by Roberta Gable and Susgan Borden.
St. John’s College ■ Fall siooi }
�{AlUMNiNoTES}
1941
Bruce Graybeal writes to say that
he helps his wife Barbara manage
and operate a private conservative
school at Ohve Branch, Mississippi:
De Soto County Academy.
He is studying homeopathy.
Davies spent time with Jacqueline
and Dave Rea (class of ’49) while
the fisherfolk fought the fish and
seasickness (just joking). This trip
has become a long-standing tradi
tion for St. John’s alumni who live
on Long Island.”
i960
1951
1945
William Lieb attended the Santa
Fe Homecoming where he had two
pieces in the All Alumni Art Show:
“Unreal” and “Original Bliss.”
After 25 years in the film business,
he graduated at age 70 from Santa
Monica College of Design Art and
Architecture in 1993. He had a
seven-year retrospective solo art
show at the University of Califor
nia, Riverside, in 1996. He has two
grandsons: Danny, 5, and Alex, 3.
In the fall of 2000, George Wend
took a river cruise from Amsterdam
to Vienna.
Tony Hardy is semi-retired, still
working half-time as a psychologist.
He plays tennis and gardens in his
“spare” time. He’s working on a
book on phenomenology, with
roots in Kant and Cassirer.
as an active partner in the Philadel
phia office of the law firm of
Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis
LLP since January i, 1993,1 am
now Senior Counsel to the firm. I
continue professionally active as
cochair of the Joint Philadelphia
Bar Association/ United States Dis
trict Court Alternative Dispute
Resolution Committee, as judge
pro tern in the Philadelphia County
Court of Common Pleas Day For
ward and Commerce case-manage
ment programs, and as chair of the
latter program’s advisory commit
tee. I am certified by the Council of
Better Business Bureaus, Inc. as an
arbitrator in the BBB Auto Line
program. I take an occasional
engagement as an expert witness
on issues of professional responsibihty, as an arbitrator, or as a medi
ator.”
had a hip replaced; gotten a novel.
Naturally Bad Manners, accepted
by a publisher (it is scheduled to
appear before next May); am
presently beginning to negotiate a
position as a resident Research
Scholar at Hanazono University’s
International Research Institute for
Zen Buddhism in Kyoto, Japan, and
hope to become a Rinzai Zen lay
brother; have been invited to
attend the 2001 meetings of the
Eranos Circle at Ascona in Switzer
land as their guest because of my
translations and books concerning
Adolf Portmann and his work; and
otherwise I am enjoying the life of a
penurious seventy-year-old Liberal
Artist. My e-mail address is
presently rbcc@erols.com.
Jerry M. Hynson, retired teacher,
school principal, and coordinator
of Baltimore Public Schools, has
been elected a trustee of the Mary
land Historical Society.
{The College.
Donald Schell (SF) writes: “In
sings polyphonic sacred music out
doors in New York City. You can
read about it at
WWW. streetsingers. org.
1968
1969
John Falencki (A) reports that his
Mabshall Clark (SF) is purchas
oldest child married this June. He
is living in New York and enjoying
work as a family physician in a col
laborative office with a physical
therapist, family therapist, manual
medicine therapist and homeopath.
ing energy for the state of Califor
nia with fellow St. Johnnie
Jonathan Teague (SF75). At the
time he wrote in, he was expecting
a very interesting summer.
Johanna Evans is owner and CEO
ofXenopus I Inc. Medical
Research.
Tipping the Scale
Lawrence G. Myers (1951) writes: “We all know that we
improved our minds at the college, but let me give high
praise (greek word epainos} to those at the college who
helped me to improve my physical health.
Six weeks prior to starting my freshman year, I left the U.S. Army’s
Tilton General Hospital where I had been a patient for 23 months after
being wounded in the Battle of Luzon in 1945. When I left the hospital
and arrived at St. John’s, I weighed 135 pounds. After my sophomore
year, I tipped the scales at 175 pounds. So let me thank the dining hall
staff and those who provided the hundreds of hamburgers, fries, and
cups of chili that I ate in the Coffee Shop while poring over Euclid or
looking up the aorist passive for of some Greek verb.
Now at age 79,1 stiU weigh 175 pounds but I look forward to putting
on a few pounds when I return to the college this fall to celebrate our
class’s 50th anniversary. If some of you guys are on a diet. I’ll gladly
take your desserts.”
r.
1959
Charles B. Watson’s (A) son, Ivan
is NPR correspondent in West
Africa-Lagos, Nigeria. His daugh
ter, Anya, graduated from high
school and wiU attend Connecticut
College in the fall to study Marine
Science.
19981 walked the Camino de Santi
ago with my second daughter,
Maria. Our book about that pil
grims’ walk came out this spring.
My Father, My Daughter, Pilgrims
on the Road to Santiago. We’ve
read at the College of Preachers in
Washington, D.C. and in October
will be part of a symposium on pil
grimage at Stanford University and
then traveling up to Seattle to open
a forum on pilgrimage at St. Mark’s
Cathedral. We carried small stones
from the windmills in Navarra to
add to the mound at Cruz de Ferro
and I thought frequently of Don
Quixote as we walked. In our read
ings, I finally noticed that I’m the
Don Quixote character in the book.
Maria is the Sancho Panza charac
ter, of course.”
John Hetland leads a group that
Richard Carter writes: “I’ve just
On 7/20 at Montauk the SJC Annu
al Striped Bass and Bluefishing
Charter sailed again with Allan
Hoffman (class of ’49), Harvey
Goldstein (class of’59), Cora and
Peter Weiss (class of’46), Peter
Davies (class of’48), his brother
and nephew. Says Allan, “Mary
Goldstein (class of’59) and Phyllis
George B. Jones HI writes: “My
wife died in June 1991 and I retired
to play golf. Met my current wife
Randi playing golf in Hilton Head
Island, S.C. We married in August
2000 and honeymooned in Vegas,
Hawaii, San Francisco, Monterey.
Had a great visit with Harrison
Shepard (A61) while in San Fran
cisco. Now living in Hilton Head.
Since the telephone company
didn’t list our number, 843-8376657 will get us.
1964
1954
Edward Mullinix writes: “Retired
1949
"^9
D
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{Alumni Notes}
30
The Helping Life
ebecca Thompson (SF71) writes: “My first community serv
ice job at St. John’s was helping an elderly Hispanic family
and tutoring a young Hispanic girl. Thirty years later. I’ve just
left a migrant education job with 3-4-year olds, preparing the
children and families for entry into kindergarten. This year I worked
with middle school kids, tutoring and ESL. I must be where I want to
be! My kids are 18 and 21, and continue to provide us with interest and
debate. We bought our home in Petaluma and have an endless vista of
landscaping and improvements, should we choose to follow that
road...love to hear from old friends.”
R
Michael Anthony’s (A) son. Will,
graduated from Lake Oswego High
School and is now attending the
Marshall School of Business at the
University of Southern California
in Los Angeles.
In addition to teaching at Thomas
Aquinas College, Richard Ferrier
(A) is president of the Declaration
Foundation, and with another tutor
has co-authored a hook for high
school civics. The book is America’s
Declaration Principles in Thought
and Action and is available from the
foundation’s website at declaration.net.
1970
William Wade Douglas (SFGI) is
CEO of Sangraal by the Sea Confer
ence Center, hosting groups,
churches, and colleges. Sangraal is
also a youth hostel and provides
lodging to worldwide members
from many countries as part of
hosteling international. St. John’s
College staff, faculty, and students
may stay one night free. His wife
Linda (SFGI83) is coordinator of
gifted education for Middlesex Co.
public schools in Virginia.
1971
After finishing St. John’s, Dwight
Platt (A) went to Virginia Theo
logical Seminary and ended up in
Baltimore teaching at St. Mary’s
College. In 1975, he started a busi
ness in commercial real estate to
supplement his salary at St. Mary’s.
Today that business owns 42 build
ings around Baltimore, and
Dwight’s younger son. Sage
(Haverford ’96), runs the Con
struction Division. Dwight and his
wife Nina live in the Greenspring
Valley at a farm they have owned
peacefully for over 27 years. This
year they decided to totally reno
vate the house, and within the last
2.7 months, the peace has been lost
forever. (“Just kidding!” he notes.)
Dwight sees David Johnson (A68)
quite frequently and has kept up
with the college over the years. He
and David ran a seminar for adults
for a couple of years at the Mary
land Club. Dwight win not be at the
2001 reunion because his oldest
son, Charlie, is getting married the
same weekend, but he hopes to see
more of his class at the 35th
reunion in 2006.
Nick Patrone (A) graduated in
2001 with a BM in composition from
the East Carohna University School
of Music. Now he’s in the Master’s
program for composition. He’s still
practicing medicine as a rheumatol
ogist in Rocky Mount, N.C. His son,
Paul, wiU be entering St. John’s in
the fall of 2002.
1974
Richard Ferguson (A) received and
accepted an early retirement offer
from his company. Who says that a
soft economy is bad news? He is tak
ing a year off to decide what he wants
to do. He is still hving in Boulder
Colorado, with the same address, the
same phone number, and the same
wife as he has had for the last twenty
years or so.
1975
Mark Habrel (SF) writes: “I have
Paul Eitner (SF) and his wife
Denise Roy are enjoying their first
grandchild. Turner Gene Eitner,
born December 1999. Paul is an
aerospace/communications engi
neer and Denise is a certified nurse
midwife. They have settled in
Southeastern Pennsylvania, not far
from Philadelphia.
Barry Sher (A) closed his office
last year and is now running a virtu
al design studio out of his dining
room. “My staff is stretched across
two states,” he writes.
1973
Donnel (A) and Janet O’Flynn
(A74) write: “Our son Aidan will be
a freshman in Annapolis in the fall
of 2001! Our daughter Kathleen is
also starting college, at Simon’s
Rock College of Bard in Great Bar
rington, Mass. Our empty nest is on
{The College-
Martha’s Vineyard where Donnel is
rector of Grace Episcopal Church
in Vineyard Haven. I am doing
pediatric occupational therapy in
the Martha’s Vineyard Public
Schools. We look forward to lots of
parental visits to St. John’s.”
this year been named Director of
Music at St. Edward the Confessor
Episcopal Church in Wayzata, Min
nesota. For those who don’t know, I
have a six-year-old son: Aaron John
Rening-Habrel. I have also been
married three times and, at each
wedding, fellow SF75 alumnus G.
Kevin Johnson has been my best
man. (Talk about overworking a
friendship!)
1976
Betsy Davenport (SF) received a
PhD in psychology in 1989. She
married Joe Kaplan in 1987 and has
one child, age 9, two stepchadults,
33 and 36, and two grandchildren, 5
and 4. Her work includes writing a
column on parenting, public speak
ing, the occasional local talk-tv
show, private practice psychothera
py, parenting consultations, diag
nosis and treatment of
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
ADD/ADHD. She is preparing a
book for publication and has more
in the works.
Victoria Hanley’s (SF) book. The
Seer and the Sword, is being pub
lished in the U.K., the U.S., and
Canada, and translated and pub
lished in Holland, Norway, Fin
land, Spain, Germany, Italy, and
Japan. Her second book. The Heal
er ’s Keep, will be pubhshed in
2002. “I’m happy!” she writes.
1977
Corry Miller Weierrach (A)
reports she’s enjoying two years off
from work, keeping busy with
daughters Madeleine and Helen,
and engaging in several volunteer
activities.
Andrea Williams Ham and
Robert James Ham (both SF)
write: “Jim and I were thrilled to be
able to attend our niece’s gradua
tion with St. John’s College Santa
Fe campus in May 2001. INDIA
Clarke (SFor) is a third genera
tion graduate of St. John’s College.
Both her grandfather, John L.
Williams (class of ’50) and her
mother, India Williams (SF73)
preceded her as did Jim and 1. Con
gratulations India Clarke. We‘re all
proud ofyou!”
News from Marlene Strong (A):
“I just found out last week that I
passed my licensing exam for my
Marriage and Family Therapist
license! I’ll continue to work as a
social worker at a foster care agency
until I figure out what to do nextone of these days I hope to find a
job that combines my research
skills and my clinical skills. Right
now I’m exhausted from all the
studying-there was a four-hour
written exam in January and then
an oral exam in April-it all comes
down to you and two strangers in a
hotel room with a tape recorder for
35 minutes! Anyway, I’m very
relieved it’s over and I can go back
to having a life instead of studying
all the time.”
Deborah Cohen (A) writes that
her firm, Cohen Marketing Ser
vices (CMS), has been granted a
patent for a new process of formu
lating soy products. The process
�{AlumniProfile}
31
Household Name
Jim Rooney’s days arefilled with the nightmares that homeownersfear.
By SuS3AN Borden,
A87
e’s the Click
and Clack of
the home
front,
Annapolis’
answer to
Sherlock Holmes. Jim Rooney
(A74), a home inspector and
house maintenance columnist, is
the man to call about mysterious
leaks, odors, drafts, and buzzes.
Not long ago, a woman
called Rooney about a
sewage smell whose source
she couldn’t trace. He asked
her if she had a family room.
She said yes. He asked if she
had a bar sink. She said yes.
He asked if she drank. She
said no. “So there’s the
problem,” Rooney says.
“The trap in the bar sink
dried out.”
Rooney sees his ability to
diagnose problems-sometimes over the phone-as a
legacy of his St. John’s days.
“I’m just using what we
learn at St. John’s,” he says,
“a way to approach a prob
lem.” Rooney has always put
his problem-solving abilities to good use,
even during his St. John’s days. He organ
ized and headed a carpentry crew while a
student at St. John’s, framing single family
homes and light commercial and town
house projects. Later he became a project
manager for commercial construction proj
ects costing from $200,000 to $5 million.
Rooney is a licensed Maryland home
improvement contractor and a member of
the National Historical Trust. He has writ
ten instruction manuals for the Stanley
Tool Company and lectured on residential
homebuilding, repair, and restoration. He
has acted as an arbitrator and served as an
expert witness in construction-related
cases. And, he is known throughout
Annapolis as the author of “Homefront,” a
popular house maintenance column.
Rooney has been writing Homefront for
the Annapolis Capital since October 1994,
“The VENT PIPE DOWN THERE NEEDS TO BE
EIXED,” NOTES JiM RoONEY (A74) AFTER A TRIP
column to “On The Level”
and is now offering it to
newspapers across the coun
try. While he is pleased to
join the organization that
syndicates Ann Landers,
Molly Ivins, and the comic
strip “Andy Capp,” Rooney
says it was a long road to
syndication.
“The first thing you do
when you’re trying to get
syndicated is get used to
rejection,” he says. “Some of
my letters just barely made it
over the transom before they
came flying back.” Rooney
finally got a break when the
Capital announced the
results of a readers survey:
Rooney’s column was the
favorite, beating every col
umn in the paper, including
Dear Abby. He sent the syn
dicates the survey and
rewrote the opening of his
cover letter to read: “This
column sells papers.” The
approach worked. Creators
signed him on, and Rooney
is now poised to become a
household name to house
holders nationwide.
AlUMNI HoUSE
Reverdy Johnson House ).
INTO THE BASEMENT OF THE
(AKA
giving Annapolis residents advice about
hot water heaters, ductwork, gutter guards,
roof venting, replacement windows, con
crete, and septic systems.
What are the things that are most on a
homeowners mind? Rooney says that the
most common problems are wet basements,
leaky roofs, inoperable heating and cooling
systems, and plumbing malfunctions. But
he prefers solving more esoteric problems.
“I’ve investigated everything from bat odor
in an attic to a mysterious houseground
causing lights to brighten and dim,” he
says, clearly fond of the very nightmares
that cause homeowners to lose sleep.
This past August, Rooney signed with
Creators Syndicate, which retitled his
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
On the Bookshelf
The Reader’s Digest Guide
to Home Repair - Jim’s comment:
Oddly enough, this is one of the
best books for do-it-yourselfers
on the market.
The Old House Journal
Guide to Restoration - For more
aggressive projects
The following periodicals are for
anyone who wants to turn pro:
The Journal ofLight
Construction
Fine Homebuilding
�{AlumniNotes}
technology makes a whole new gen
eration of soy products possible.
The range of products span the
bakery and snack categories; a
press release lists soy tortilla chips,
soy tortillas, or even soy “wraps”
and soy “Chinese wrappers” as pos
sible products.
1978
George Harper (A), an attorney at
large, reports that he “holds court
(up) at 14744 Main Street, Upper
Marlboro, MD 2,0772.”
1979
Greg Cowell (SF) writes: “With
my second child on the way I
thought I would send in an update
of my life, not having done so since
I drove away ar years ago. My wife
Jeannine and I have been married 8
years. We have two future St. John’s
candidates at our house, our daugh
ter Cathryn is three and a half, and
we are expecting a son in the next
month. I have been practicing med
icine for r6 years and currently I am
the medical director of a medium
size emergency room in Illinois.
Music is my passion, but I have yet
to figure out how to make money as
a musician. My e-mail is gcowelled
@aol.com. Regards to all, but espe
cially to old E and F dormers who
might be reading.”
1980
and Etym(bi)ology, Omnidawn
Press, 2002.
1981
Warren Spector (A), along with
Alan Schwartz, has been named co
president and co-chief operating
officer of the Wall Street firm Bear
Stearns. Spector continues to head
the firm’s fixed income division
and other units.
1982
Randy Linder (SF) writes: “Life
rolls on. (Anyone out there have
any ideas how to stop/slow this
train?) I’m starting my sixth year as
a professor at the University of
Texas in evolutionary biology.
Which means I’m up for tenure. Oh
the joys of stress. Otherwise, life is
good. Well, except for truly infernal
summers, rra degree heat is not
compatible with cycling home from
work. Lord help Austin when global
warming really kicks in. I hope
there’ll be a good turnout for our
ao- year reunion next year. I’m very
interested in what youse guys have
been up to. Do feel free to stop by if
your travels bring you to Austin,
Texas.”
Pedro Martinez-Fraga (A) was
selected as the 2001 Lawyer of the
Americas by the University of
Miami Interamerican Law Review
and the School of Law. The award
recognizes extraordinary accom
plishments in the area of interna
tional law. Pedro’s successful repre
sentation of several countries in
federal district court in the U.S.
and arbitral proceedings in Europe
and South America gave rise to this
most prestigious hemispheric
recognition. Pedro also chairs the
Greenberg Traurig International
Litigation Department.
Melanie Longoni (SF) is currently
in her third year of study at Austin
Presbyterian Theological Semi
nary, where she is enrolled in the
Master of Divinity degree program,
in preparation for ordination as a
Minister of Word and Sacrament in
the Presbyterian Church (USA).
She is especially interested in min
istry with children and with adults
with developmental disahihties.
Erik Jacobs (A) has two daughters:
Ada, who turned four on June 12,
2001, and Katie, who is nearly a
year old.
1983
Linda Douglas (SFGI) is coordina
tor of gifted education for Middle
sex County Public Schools in Vir
ginia. For news of her husband,
William, see notes for the class of
1970.
Steve Barkhimer (A) writes that
Elizabeth Travis (SF) writes: “I’m
since graduating from the Eastern
Classics Program in rggb, he has
been enjoying an extremely active
life in the Boston theatre world,
and has just released a CD of origi
nal music called “Time Was,”
which can be obtained through
www.cdfreedom.com or
sbarkhimer@aol.com.
still in California. Turning 40 too
soon. Heard from Dave Larom
(SF83)-he is in San Diego with wife
Nancy Lovinger and their new baby.
Sounds like life is good for them
these days, too. What’s up with the
rest of us that came together dur
ing the fall of ’7g to first discuss
ashtrays and the capital ‘G’ Good?”
Roh Crutchfield (A) e-mails that
the info for him in the Alumni Reg
ister is about a year out of date.
He’s currently living in Henderson
ville, North Carolina and his e-mail
address is
robcrutchfield@yahoo.com.
Liz Waldner (A) writes that she
has three new poetry collections
coming out: Selfand Simulacra,
Alice James Books’ Hawley Prize
winner for 2001; Dark Would, Uni
versity of Georgia Press Contempo
rary Poetry Series winner for 3002;
{The College.
1984
Beth Lohr Koolbeck (A) writes
that she and her husband Gregory
had a new baby girl, Joy, born in
January.
1985
Jeffrey Wilson (A) writes: “I was
granted tenure at Loyola Marymount this year. My first publica
tion, an article on Kant’s sublime,
is forthcoming in the American
Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. I
am in my fourth year of co-teaching
graduate philosophy seminars in
Germany through the University of
Frankfurt. I am increasingly
involved in St. John’s Episcopal
Church in South Central Los Ange
les with parishioners from 27 coun
tries. St. John’s is one of the Epis
copal parishes that already
5t. John’s College ■ Fall 200/ }
performs same-sex unions-and I’m
still looking for the boyfriend to
make that commitment with.”
Beth Anderson and David Stahl
(both A) have moved to Camp Hill,
Pa. Their new address is 853
Wynnewood Road, Camp Hill, PA
17011-1635.
1986
Linda Hamm Grez (A) writes: “My
husband Joe Grez and I got married
on the steps behind the Quad in
Annapolis in June of 2000. Guests
included Roger Lowe (A86) and
Sallie Fine (A87). I’d love to hear
from classmates in Annapohs or
Santa Fe. E-mail: llhamm2@earthlink.net.”
Barbara Roherts (SFGI) has
returned home to the Denver area,
where she is a special educator in a
public elementary Montessori
school and a school for the gifted
and talented.
From Todd Masilon (A): “After
having served for about six months
in Bosnia as an enlisted Intelhgence Analyst (to Tia Pausic (A)—
just missed you while you were
working in Croatia), I have recently
returned to the U.S. and have grad
uated from the Army Officer Candi
date School (euphemistically
referred to as “Charm School”).
Currently, as a newly commissioned
Second Lieutenant (at 37 years of
age, I think I’m the oldest 2LT in
the Army), I am at Fort Huachuca,
Ariz., preparing to attend the Mili
tary Intelligence Basic Officer
Course. Wife Renee and daughter
Molly (three years old) will join me
here shortly (I’ve seen them for a
total of about three weeks since
leaving for Bosnia last Septemhera welcome reunion indeed).
“Upon graduation in December,
my orders take us to Darmstadt,
Germany. This is a good thing,
since I’m sure to be deployed to
Bosnia/Kosovo/Macedonia at least
twice during the three years that
we’re there, and Renee and Molly
will be at liberty to have adventures
in Europe while I’m away.
“Despite the fact that I’ve yet to
use the Arabic language skills the
Army has taught me, I continue to
�{AlumniNotes}
maintain my fluency (thank God
for the BBC and their Arabic broad
casts on the Internet).
“As a former Johnny, and holder
of two MAs in Unguistics, friends
and family thought I was nuts for
joining the Army a little over three
years ago. While there have been
many trying times, and a lot to
gripe about. I’m happy to say that,
upon reflection. I’m proud to be a
philosopher-warrior. Yes, the mili
tary trains me to be ready to destroy
and kill, but it also trains me to pre
serve and protect. Happily, my
philosopher-wife is consonant with
this life and its requirements.”
O’Neal, and his wife, Lynn Thomp
son, is the Director of the Southern
Pines Public Library.
Across Spain.” “Any Johnnies pass
ing through San Francisco give me
a call!” he says.
Teresa Jeanne Fullinwider (A)
and Christopher John Bailey (A)
Picot Floyd (A) reports that he is
working at Citibank, for the Latin
American Consumer Banking Divi
sion. He is the UNIX systems man
ager. His wife Suzy is alternately
homeschooling and Montessori
schooling their daughters, Myrina,
6, and Daphne, 4,
got married in October of 1996.
She now goes by the name Teresa
Bailey. They live in Pittsburgh,
where Chris is a free-lance writer
and Teresa is a Doula. On March
20, 3001, they had a baby boy
named Simon David Bailey.
1988
1989
Jennifer Lee (SF) writes: “After
Christina Paige (A) writes: “Since
1987
“It would be nice to hear from old
friends,” writes Mira Skadegard
Thorsen (SF). “We are moving to a
little horse farm not too far from
Copenhagen (ao min.). Since I just
finished a degree in Literary Theo
ry and Anthropology, I assume I’ll
be working either in some sort of
research or on a PhD within the
next year or so. Having three kids
does keep us fairly busy
though...Anybody interested in
Danish dressage horses should
drop me a note. I’d also love to hear
from anyone working with post
colonial discourse theory, and race
and gender theory (and human
rights and business). There aren’t
too many people working in these
areas in Denmark. Our new address
is: Mira, Sune, Tess, Tara and Tai
Skadegard Thorsen, Sortmosen 6,
3520 Farum, Denmark.”
Sai,LIE Fine (A) e-mails that she’s
recently completed her education
administration program and is now
certified (and certifiable!) to serve
as a principal for grades 7-13. “I
plan on teaching one more year
before making any career decisions.
I moved last March and my new
address is 3136 Richmond Road;
Beachwood, OH 4412a. I also made
a cyber move and can now be
reached at salhefine@msn.com.”
Bob Howell (AGI) is Director of
Technology and English Depart
ment Chair at the O’Neal School in
Southern Pines, N.C. Bob’s daugh
ter Emma is a sophomore at
1999 I’ve been teaching math, sci
ence and literature classes at Kino
School in Tucson, Ariz. Now I’m in
charge of the Junior High Reading
and Writing Program, which suits
me to a T. The best part of teaching
at an alternative school is that my
daughter goes to work with me
every day. After all those different
sur-names (Smith, Freeman, etc.).
I’m very comfortable as Christina
Paige. I miss Chris Colby and the
Annapolis campus print shop, and
Mr. Starr, but I’m still friends with
Deirdre McGlynn (A86) and
Robert Beeson (SF88).”
Diana Shaw-McCarthy (A) is
working on a master’s degree in
public administration at New York
University. Her husband, Jonathan,
is a research economist at the Fed
eral Reserve Bank of New York.
Elaine Pinkerton Coleman
(SFGI), having committed to fulltime writing, has completed editing
of her father’s World War II letters.
Her book, titled From Calcutta
With Love, is being published by
Texas Tech University Press in early
3003. In July 2002, she will have a
book signing and talk at the St.
John’s Santa Fe campus as part of
the “speaking volumes” program.
Jeffrey Falero (A) reports that he
graduated in June with an M.S. in
Civil Engineering (Structures)
from Stanford University. He also
co-authored an article about the
construction of the latest leg of
Spain’s bullet train; it appears in
Civil Engineering magazine, June
2001, Vol. 71, No. 6, “Speeding
eight wonderful years in Greece,
Dimitri and I are returning to the
States with our two daughters. Our
new address is: 2804 Goodwood,
Baltimore, MD 31314.1 haven’t
held a proper job in all my time in
Greece, but I did get a masters in
education and plan to teach middle
school math. Lots of new begin
nings...”
The first big-screen appearance for
Christopher Sullivan (A) was in
Metropopular in Spike & Mike’s
200! Classic Festival ofAnimation.
He was the voices of Los Angeles
and New York. Metropopular won
Honorable Mention in Short Film
making at the Sundance Film Festi
val and tied for runner-up for Best
Short at the Texas Film Festival.
Brad Stuart and Sara Larson
Stuart (both A) are delighted to
report the birth of their daughter,
Eleanor Kay Stuart, on June 18,
3001.
Marty Gelfand (A) had an article
published in the American Bank
ruptcy Law Journal, “How a Com
munity Saved Their Hospitals from
Unnecessary Liquidation.” His arti
cle tells the story of how Cleve
landers rallied to stop a bankrupt
hospital system from selling its
neighborhood hospitals to a com
peting local mega-hospital on con
dition that the hospitals shut down
before the Delaware Bankruptcy
Court hearing.
{The College -St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
33
1990
John (“Johno”) Obenauer (A) emails: “I have some news I am
extremely relieved to report: after
starting graduate school in physics
and then working in data analysis
and computing jobs, I finally com
pleted a PhD in, of all things, bio
chemistry. I just started working as
a research scientist at MIT’s Center
for Cancer Research this past
month (June 2001) and am very
excited about it. In my personal
life, I married a cutie named
Michelle Blackwell (now Obenauer)
in 1994 and am surprised to find
that I like being married, even after
seven years. Michelle is a bio
chemist too, at a private company
in Cambridge, Mass. To all the
other Johnnies out there in grad
school, hang in there! It feels a lot
better when it’s over! ”
David Ruy (A) is residing in New
York City, where he has been in
practice as an architect since
receiving his M.Arch from Colum
bia. He currently splits his time
between his practice and teaching
duties at Princeton Univ. His e-mail
address is david@ruyklein.com.
Dahra Latham (A) is still living in
Seattle, and has completed her first
year of law school at the University
ofWashington. “I’m spending the
summer as an extern at the Fair
Access to Contraception Project,”
she says. “I would be delighted to
hear from auld acquaintance: my
snail-mail and phone are the same,
and e-mail is dahra@u.washington.edu. I would also like to hear
from any Johnny attorneys out
there who might be interested in
the project.”
1991
Lena Skadegard (A) is currently
working on an MFA at Hunter Col
lege in painting. Professionally, she
works as a clothing designer and
buyer. She lives in New York City.
�{AlumniProfile}
34
Quiz Show
Which Johnnie wants to be a millionaire?
By Sus3an Borden,
A87
Mattise. Goya. Dali.
Jasper Johns. Can
you place these
artists’ lives in
chronological
order? How quick
ly? What if you were competing against
500 other players for speed and accu
racy? What if the chance to win one
million dollars was riding on your
answer?
These were not hypothetical
questions for David Maclaine
(SF74). One August day in the
summer of 2000 he found himself
scanning his memory bank for
artists’ bios in an odyssey that
took him to ABC Studios in New
York to compete on the hit game
show “Who Wants To Be a Mil
lionaire?”
To win a spot on the show,
would-be contestants call a tollfree number and answer three
questions that require them to
arrange a group of items (such as
people, places, or events) in a
given order (such as oldest to
youngest, east to west, or earliest
to latest). Five hundred of those who get all
three questions right are placed in a pool
and of those, forty are selected for a further
qualifying round of five questions.
Maclaine says that the odds of selection for
the second round are about r in 300. He’s
heard of people winning a spot in the pool
one hundred times without being selected.
For Maclaine, it took only four times.
It was during this second qualifying
round that Maclaine was asked about the
artists. The question gave him no trouble;
Jasper Johns, he explains, had recently
been on the “Simpsons.” Other questions
involved putting celebrities (Geena Davis,
RuPaul, Dr. Ruth, and Winona Ryder) in
order of height and putting poets in
chronological order. The selection of
poets-WiUiam Carlos Williams, Rita Dove,
Sir Philip Sidney, and Galway Kinnellwent far beyond the Robert Frosts and
Emily Dickinsons that haunt most game
shows. Luckily for Maclaine, he had an MA
David Maclaine attributes his game show
SUCCESS TO LUCK, St. John’s, and “The
Simpsons.”
in literature and a St. John’s education
under his belt. And-current students
please take note-Maclaine, who had faith
fully attended Friday night lectures, was
able to answer this question correctly
because the poet Galway Kinnell gave a lec
ture at St. John’s during Maclaine’s fresh
man year. “I still remember him, wander
ing up and down on the stage in the Great
Hall,” he says. “He had no prepared
speech, but spoke impromptu-a discussion
of Walt Whitman liberating poetry from
the strait jacket Milton had put it into.”
Maclaine put the poets in order, hung up
the phone, and two hours later received the
call-he would be flying to New York to
compete on the show.
While Maclaine had beaten some very
tough odds to get that call, he was not com
pletely surprised that he’d done so. In high
{The College-
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
school, he was part of a champi
onship quiz team and discovered
that he had the poise to compete.
“There are plenty of people who
know a great deal but freeze up dur
ing competition,” he says. “Two of
the people on my high school team
ended up co-valedictorians, but
during the games they’d sit with
fixed grins on their faces while the
rest of us answered the questions.”
While Maclaine was not the type
to freeze up, his early attempts to
get on “Millionaire” were thwarted
by a lack of focus brought on by
depression. At the time Maclaine
started to call into the show, his
mental health was suffering. His
freelance writing career had taken a
downturn. A book he was working
on fell apart. A day job ended poor
ly. When he finally found himself
unemployed, he was too paralyzed
to look for work. His game show
phone-ins reflected his mental
state. He called the show while he
was in the middle of reading a book
on medieval history and got a ques
tion about the medieval kings of
England. “I botched it,” he says. “I
was not focused enough to get even a handit-to-me question.”
Not long after, Maclaine took part in an
experimental program to test a new anti
depressant. His depression lifted. “It
turned on some switch in my brain that
remained on after the study was over. I
went back to calling the show and it was a
lot easier,” he says.
There are countless factors that influ
ence our lives, and even if no one can say
what’s causal and what’s coincidental, it
certainly seems that Maclaine earned his
way on to the nation’s hottest TV show
with the help of experimental drug TAK637, the towering height of RuPaul, the
appearance of Jasper Johns on the “Simp
sons,” and a Friday night lecture by Galway
Kinnell.
Competition on “Who Wants To Be a
Millionaire” begins with the Fastest Finger
round, where players are asked a question
similar to the call-in questions. The con
testants punch their answers into a keypad
�{AlumniProfile}
and the one who gets the question right in
the shortest time makes it to the Hot Seat,
where he has a chance to win up to one mil
lion dollars. Before taping, contestants are
given a Fastest Finger practice session,
where Maclaine says he made every kind of
blunder possible. When the show started,
the contestants were asked to place a series
of actresses in order according to age.
Maclaine got them right but mistakenly
held dovm a button too long, entering one
actress for two slots.
While the winner of the round was sit
ting on the Hot Seat, Maclaine had plenty
of time to think about his mistake. “Your
wrong answer stays locked on the screen in
front of you the whole time you’re watching
the winner play,” he explains. “1 knew the
next round would be my last chance and I
was determined not to botch it.” During
the next practice session, Maclaine
doggedly worked with the keypad, choos
ing several sequences to enter over and
over again.
The next question asked the contestants
to place four rock songs in order of release.
“I didn’t recognize a single one,” Maclaine
says. “I just punched in one of the patterns
1 had been practicing. I sat there thinking,
‘OK, that’s it. I’ll be going home soon.’
Then I heard Regis call out the first answer
and I though it was amusing I’d gotten it
right. Then the second one was also right. I
was thinking clearly enough to know I was
only a coin flip away from getting them all
right and sure enough, I had. Only one
other poor schmo got it right, and he had
actually spent some time thinking about
it.” Maclaine, clueless about the question,
had entered his answers faster. He went to
the Hot Seat laughing giddily. “If anyone
needed a break at that point, I did,” he
says.
The Hot Seat is what “Millionaire” is all
about. It’s where the contestant sits across
from host Regis Philbin and is asked rs
questions of increasing difficulty, winning
increasing amounts of money. After hear
ing each question, the player can decide to
try to answer it (and risk losing much of
the money he’s won), or to walk away and
keep the money.
One difference between “Millionaire”
and other game shows is that contestants
on the Hot Seat are given no time limit for
answering the questions. Although the
show is known for how easy its early ques
tions are, Maclaine ran into trouble on only
his third: How many claps did it take to
operate the original Clapper? Maclaine
couldn’t remember, or perhaps he had
never known. “Ever since they invented
mutes, I haven’t been listening to commer
cials,” he admits.
Still, he managed to get the question
right and answer some harder questions,
like what did Michael Jordan announce he
was going to cut back on: endorsements,
film-making, baseball, or golf? Maclaine
had no memory of such an announcement,
but he took his time, allowed the nervous
energy that clouded his thinking to dissi
pate, talked through everything his mind
could dig up about Jordan, and let his brain
do its work.
“I didn’t panic at the questions I didn’t
have nailed. That’s one way that going to
St. John’s really helped me,” Maclaine says.
“People who have gone through a more
conventional education, where they think
in terms of answers that they either do or
don’t know, become paralyzed when they
don’t have the answer. But when you’ve
had the kind of education where there
aren’t many fixed answers, where you’re
used to sitting down and discussing things,
you can sort through your thoughts and
work out the answer. The idea of talking
your way through it is natural for a St.
John’s alumnus.”
Maclaine was asked several middle-level
questions he considered easy: What kind of
art was Frederic Remington famous for?
How long ago did dinosaurs became
extinct? Whose nickname was the Desert
Fox? He had no trouble with these, yet was
unsure where the Pentagon was located.
“That was before September rr,” he says.
“Now it’s a question we all know the
answer to.”
Eventually, Maclaine reached the
$350,000 question: What’s the material
inside an etch-a-sketch: carbon, silicon,
aluminum, or magnesium? “Somehow, I
knew how it worked. A light metallic sub
stance is attached to the surface by static
electricity. The black lines are not set
down, they’re cut through the background.
That told me it was something metallic,
either aluminum or magnesium. If I’d
remembered my chemistry, I would have
had the answer instantly. Magnesium, after
all, would explode.” He decided to take a
chance. “I knew that a quarter-million dol
lars was worth the gamble, that it would
change my life significantly more than
$125,000” He gave his answer.
After learning that aluminum was cor
rect, there was a pause in the taping. A pro
duction assistant reminded Maclaine that
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
35
Millionaire Questions
Answered
Artists: Goya, Matisse, Dali, Johns
Celebrities: RuPaul, Geena Davis,
Winona Ryder, Dr. Ruth
Poets: Sir Philip Sidney, William Car
los Williams, Galway Kinnell, Rita
Dove
It took two claps to operate the origi
nal “Clapper.”
Michael Jordan announced he would
cut back on endorsements.
Frederic Remington was famous for
western art.
Dinosaurs became extinct around 65
million years ago.
Erwin Rommel’s nickname was the
Desert Fox.
The Pentagon is located in Arlington,
Virginia.
he needn’t be embarrassed to walk away
with $250,000 if he didn’t know the
answer to the next question. When filming
resumed, Maclaine was asked, for half a
million dollars, which type of tree most of
the world’s supply of cork comes from:
oak, hickory, aspen, or birch. Unsure of the
answer and unable to reason it through,
Maclaine walked away from the show with
$250,000. But not before Regis told him
the answer: oak.
Since then, the relation of oak and cork
seems to pop up everywhere in Maclaine’s
life. While watching a golf tournament
from Spain (a major supplier of cork), he
saw an informational segment that dis
cussed the country’s oak trees and cork
industry. Reading some literature on cork
floors, he saw their origins as oak
explained.
But such reminders of his decision not to
answer the cork question never trouble
him. “I’ve spent no time regretting my
play. I’m so delighted to come away with
what I did,” he says. “The day I’m embar
rassed to walk away with a quarter million
dollars is not anywhere on my horizon.”
�{AlumniProfile}
36
Object Lesson
Samantha Alderson (A86) found a career that mingles art and history—cls an art conservator.
By Roberta Gable,
A78
he liberal arts were kind
of a shift for Samantha
Alderson (A86) when she
came to St. John’s,
because in high school
the arts she concerned
herself with were the fine ones. She
attended the High School of Music and
Art in New York City, which gave her
equal doses of studio work and art histo
ry. She figured the college experience
ought to be heavy on the academic side,
since she wasn’t sure if she wanted to
pursue an art career. She chose St.
John’s “because I wanted to go to col
lege for an education, not for a profes
sion.’’ She kept up with drawing and
painting while she was a student, and
even helped set up the first visual arts
preceptorial. Then, in one of those clearas-a-bell moments, the idea of becoming
an art conservator occurred to her.
Alderson had traveled in Italy before col
PUTTING THE PAST BACK TOGETHER: SaMANTHA
lege and had seen people doing restoration work.
Alderson applies acrylic resin to the
EDGES of a ceramic VESSSEL FROM EqUADOR
That image had apparently lurked in her subcon
BEFORE REASSEMBLING IT.
scious until its sudden manifestation during her
senior year. Since she had no idea what was
involved in such work, she had some serious
servator, and then she was able to volun
research to do.
teer at the Guggenheim in the painting
She went up to NYU (which has one of
conservation lab. She worked as a paralegal
the three major art conservation programs
to pay the bills, and eventually the Guggen
in the U.S.) and had a talk with the direc
heim offered her a paying job. Meanwhile
tor, who spoke to her of the prerequisites:
she took classes, all over the place: at the
i) at least four to six courses in art history,
Art Students League, working up her port
anthropology, or archaeology; a) a science
folio; and at Hunter and Gity Gollege in art
background, including at least one year
history, general chemistry, and organic
each of undergraduate general chemistry
chemistry. In three years she’d acquired
and organic chemistry; 3) formal course
the brute minimum to apply to the gradu
work in a wide variety of fine arts media
ate programs, so she did, but she didn’t
and a portfolio of your own artwork; 4) and
expect to get in, because she’d been told
some previous conservation experience.
that most people had to make a second run
Despite being, shall we say, technically
before they did, the programs being small
unprepared in many ways for this pursuit,
and competitive.
Alderson resolved to pursue it anyway.
In fact, she did get into NYU and
And this is where her St. John’s educa
enrolled in the fall of 1990, beginning a
tion kicked in. “St. John’s gave me a sense
four-year program (three years of course
of being up to the challenge, the confi
work and then an internship) for an MA in
dence that I could do anything.” First, she
art history and, concurrently, a certificate
volunteered (which is in many fields an
in conservation.
excellent way to get your foot in the door,
“Art conservation” is the modern field
as many Johnnies have discovered) at the
that has evolved from the tradition of “art
Morgan Library working with a book conrestoration.” The idea is that with a tripar
T
{The College.
5t. John’s College ■ Fall 200/ }
tite background in science, fine
art, and art history, the conserva
tor has both the hand skills to
clean, repair, and restore art
objects, and the sensitivity to do
so in ways that will preserve them
for future generations. Gonservators have to understand materials,
their strength, how they age, their
solubility, etc., and choose the
proper tools (even, for example,
formulating their own adhesives)
to do what’s proper. As a part of
that, they often research many
aspects of the object including its
chemical constitution, its history,
and its anthropologic signifi
cance.
And it turned out that for Aiderson that “object” was the right
word. The other main areas for
conservation are paintings, paper,
textiles, photographs, and library
materials but early on she decided
on objects, which includes sculpture, deco
rative arts, and architectural, archaeologi
cal, ethnographic and natural science
materials. She spent three summers work
ing on an archaeological dig on the island
of Samothrace in Greece (the island’s high
est peak Fengari was where, according to
the Iliad, Poseidon watched the battles
during the Trojan War). There she cleaned,
reassembled and stabilized ceramics, glass,
stone and metal objects from the classic
period.
In her last year in graduate school, how
ever, she concentrated more on objects
from less familiar places, what you call your
“ethnographic” material. Generally this is
not ancient stuff-being anthropology as
opposed to archaeology-and often the
objects were not created to be art but
intended for functional, religious, or cere
monial use. “You handle these objects very
differently. If you have a pot covered with a
thick gooey black residue, you don’t neces
sarily clean it off-you have to ask if that
residue is important.”
For her internship (the fourth year of the
graduate program) she decided to focus on
ethnographic objects, and got a spot at the
American Museum of Natural History in
New York, where she worked on a wide
�{Alumni Notes}
Deirdre Routt (A) and Kevin
Graham (A90) are overjoyed to
announce the birth of a child, Nora
Elizabeth Routt Graham, on April
II, aooi.
JEANNINE K. Bramwell (SFGI) got
her master’s degree in counseling
from Adams State College in 1998.
She became a national certified
counselor in 1999 and retired from
public school teaching in aooo.
1992
Cynthia Millington Brandreth
(AGI) has a baby boy, Zach, born
October 19, 2000.
1993
Miriam Spectre (A) and Akiba
Ashley Waring Victor (A) writes:
CoviTZ (A) report that their son,
Abraham Joseph Spectre-Covitz,
was born on May 7. They are also
happy to report that they have
finally disentangled themselves
from the “Ivy League” and moved
on to saner and simpler academic
groves. Akiba is now professing to
know something about constitu
tional law and civil rights at the
University of Richmond (www.richmond.edu/ ' acovitz), where he is
also the liberal arts-oriented pre
law advisor. After years of work and
grad school (getting her second
master’s degree, in history, in
2000), Miriam has welcomed the
opportunity to take time away from
being an archivist to explore moth
erhood. They are enjoying living in
Richmond, where they purchased
and moved into a house only two
weeks before Abe was born! If you
see a car with Virginia license
plates that read “SJC 91,” stop and
say hi.
“We are still at Chatham Hall
School where Oliver is the Chap
lain (he was ordained on July 21 at
St. Paul’s School in New Hamp
shire) and I teach Latin part time.
Elizabeth and Lucy (ages 3 and 2)
love all the horses, fields, and ‘big
girls’ at Chatham Hall but are
thrilled by the busy harbor life of
Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard,
where Oliver is teaching sailing for
the summer. Would love to hear
from Bryce Heavner and Donald
Eubank!”
John MacFarlane (SF) is featued
in an article in The Chronicle of
Higher Education. After beginning
at Harvard, he switched to St.
John’s and then returned to Har
vard. He earned a PhD in philoso
phy at the University of Pittsburgh
and was hired for the faculty of the
philosophy department at Berkeley.
In addition to his focus on logic and
classical philosophy, he plays the
fiddle in a bluegrass band and is
known as “The Fiddlosopher.”
37
Eveline Smilack (A) recently
received her MFA in film produc
tion and direction at USC and is
beginning at CAA (Creative Artist
Agency). Her film Ripen is now
starting the festival circuit.
William Edelglass (SF) writes:
“For any old acquaintance who hap
pens to be passing through northern
India, I have a beautiful house nes
tled into the Himalaya, with plenty
of space, or at least suggestions for
good hotels, as well as great climbs
and fascinating people. Half the year
I am based in Dharmsala, as Assis
tant Director of Emory’s Tibetan
Studies Program, and Visting Facul
ty at the Institute of Buddhist
Dialects. I teach Tibetan philosophy
to students from the States, and
western philosophy to Tibetan
monks making their way through a
fourteen-year curriculum in Bud
dhist philosophy.”
variety of objects, “as much as I could get
my hands on, as much as possible on things
I hadn’t worked on before.” The folks at
the museum liked her, and after her gradu
ation kept her for another year in an
advanced internship, and then she was able
to stay on there the next year with a Kress
Foundation grant (to do a technological
study of Zapotec urns, archaeological
Beth Martin snapped this photo of her classmates-and assorted
friends—FROM THE CLASS OF 1994. ThEY WERE ATTENDING THE CRO
QUET Match last April.
1994
Ross Vineberg
(SF) writes: “I am
living in Jerusalem, Israel. I am
learning modern Hebrew, involved
in fine-art photography, poetry,
and learning Torah. It’s intense liv
ing here, for obvious reasons, but
I’ve met many quality people and
love living here so it makes it aU
worthwhile, all my love to class
1994-Moish.”
MattTebo (A) is enjoying living in
San Francisco with his wife, Arnie,
and playing in a band with Garth
Klippert called Suisol.
LisaMabli de Jong (SF) reports
that she received her PhD in Envi
ronmental Science, Policy, and
Management from Berkeley. Her
dissertation subject was forest fire
behavior and she is now working as
ceramics from ancient Mexico), and then,
sure enough, after the grant year was over,
they hired her as an Assistant Conservator,
and then promoted her to Associate Con
servator.
Alderson continues to work on a wide
variety of archaeological, ethnographic,
and natural science material from the
museum’s collection, researching, docu
{The College- St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
a research scientist for the USDA
Forest Service in Davis, Calif. “I
also just got married to a Dutch
man named Arend Jan de Jong, so
my new name is Lisa de Jong,” she
adds.
1995
Jennifer Garmaise nee Berger
(SFGI) writes: “I worked in jour
nalism for five years and now I am
teaching world literature and Eng
lish at an orthodox Jewish High
School. My wonderful husband
Mark moved to Los Angeles from
Chicago in August. Last year, I
spent a lot of time learning Torah. I
hope everyone I graduated with is
doing well. I would love to hear
from anyone in the Los Angeles
area (or anywhere)!
Jgarmaise@yahoo.com.”
menting, repairing, cleaning (or deciding
not to clean), and establishing the parame
ters for the display, transport, and storage
of objects. A basketry hat from the Pacific
Northwest, a featherpiece from the Ama
zon, a wooden Hindu altarpiece, a Mayan
ceramic vessel, you name it. The world has
passed through her hands. 4"
�{AlumniNotes}
38
Katherine Spencer (SFGI) is
teaching art in elementary school
and loving it. She can he contacted
at klark_kat@hotmail.com. “Con
tact me, Susanne and Juha,” she
writes.
a tutor position at St. John’s one
day. I wonder if they’ll hire me. My
husband is starting a construction
business here in Santa Fe so I think
I’ll be here for a long time.” Greet
ings may be sent to
AmythestCM@msn.com
Marissa Colleen Mkal Misiaszek
(A) writes: “I have a wonderful,
outgoing, and inquisitive one-yearold son. I was married on the sum
mer solstice at dawn on the beach. I
received a grant to study Anasazi
communities in the four-corners
region near Santa Fe. I completed
my landscape architecture thesis on
creating a community in a flood
plain. I’m still looking for a job.”
Mike Layne (SF) writes: “I am a
Counselor III at a youth shelter
here in Barrow. This is my second
year here in the Arctic. My first year
I worked for the state of Alaska as a
social worker and I absolutely hated
the punitive aspects of the job. I
took a summer off and returned as
a counselor at the local youth shel
ter. Been happy ever since. My wife
and I have been married two years
now and hopefully will have our
first child in the spring of 2002.1
would love to hear from alumni and
tutors. All visitors to our neck of
the woods have a free place to
crash. E-mail me at
mike_layne@hotmail.com. If any
one knows how to get hold of Dan
Meyers, please give him my contact
info.”
1996
Loreen (AGI) and Greg Keller
announce the arrival of their third
daughter, Alison Marie Keller, who
was born May 23, 2001.
David Longjohn Stanton (SF) is
living in Los Angeles and practic
ing law.
1997
Paula Ruhin (AGI) and John
Swann (AGI) announce their
engagement. A spring 2003 wed
ding is planned. Paula will be pur
suing a BS in computer science this
year and John will be starting a PhD
program in the history of technolo
gy. Paula and John still reside in
Annapolis and would love to hear
from any Johnnies. John’s e-mail is
cygnnus@hotmail.com and Paula’s
is psrubin@aol.com.
InyaLaskowski (SFGI) reports
that she showed her encaustic
monotypes in eleven art shows last
year. In May she returned to Santa
Fe to create new work at the Col
lege of Santa Fe Printmaking Cen
ter. At that time she also had a oneperson exhibition at Hand Artes
Gallery in Truchas, N.M. In September/October 2001 her newest
series, “Songs of Munnin and
Hudinn,” will be featured at
Gallery Route One in Point Reyes,
Calif. She says that the Norse god
of old, Odin, had two ravens as
advisors, one called Munnin, mem
ory, the other Hudinn, thought.
Her works are abstract deductions
about our existential dilemma. She
likes to refer to them as “visceral
philosophy.”
have been teaching at Loyola High
School for the past four years. I
have decided not to return. I am
now ungainfully unemployed. I
hope to find a job in foreign policy.
Here is my fantasy: Corporation X
offers me my Wonderjob but says
Wonderjob starts in a few months
so I have time to travel and when I
get home, know that a paycheck
will be waiting for me.”
1998
Nathan Schleifer (SF) got his JD
from Washington University School
of Law in St. Louis in May 2001.
Stephen Conn (SF) spent an inter
esting year studying lighting design
in the New Mexico State University
Department of Theatre Arts. He
was a cast member of the American
Southwest Theatre Company’s pro
duction of the Lorca play “Blood
Wedding,” and on that experience,
based his short independent film
project titled “Backstage.” As
always, he sends his “greetings to
the great class of 1998!”
1999
Brent Hinrichs (AGI) recently
moved to San Jose where he is
Upper School Head at Hillbrook
School, a K-8 independent school
in Los Gatos, Calif. “While not at
work, I enjoy the warmth and sun
shine of Silicon Valley I ” he writes.
Dominic Crapuchettes (A) writes:
“Still doing web programming in
Flash 5 for an internet math tutori
al company named BoxerLearning.
com. Still living with Amanda
Dulin (A) in Charlottesville and
having a great time with her. Still
{The College.
Elaine Spidle Ataha (A) recently
bought and is running her own
business. One Stop Body Shop. She
is a licensed massage therapist and
a veterinary technician focusing in
anesthesiology in orthopedic sur
gery.
Leslie Norton (AGI) writes: “I
Amy Borsick Stanton King (SF)
got married on June 21,1999 to
Shawn King, and they are “happily
living just outside Santa Fe and
truly enjoying life.” She writes,
“My daughter Allison has a daugh
ter, so I suppose that makes me a
grandmother. Who’da thunk it?
And I’m only 36. Presently, I am a
balloon twister. I know about 40
different balloon animals and
shapes. It’s really nifty. I can make
everything from a dog to a guitar. I
am considering applying to UNM’s
PhD Program in Anthropological
Linguistics and hoping to apply for
thinking about returning to school
for either business or technology.
Not playing Magic any more or
going fishing in Alaska this sum
mer.”
Rodino Anderson (A) writes: “I’m
finally leaving Florida and moving
to New York. I will attend Teachers
CoUege, Columbia University in
the fall, where I am enrolled in a
PhD program in philosophy of edu
cation. I guess the two years I took
teaching philosophy and mathe
matics at a high school have paid
off. I’m looking forward to reunit
ing with close friends in the New
York area. My other non-New York
living friends can continue to write
5f. John’s College ■ Fall aooi }
me at rodino69@yahoo.com until I
get settled. God bless you all! ”
Hagop Varant Krpanian writes:
“Although I only spent one year at
SJC during the 1995-1996 school
year, it was one of the most memo
rable experiences of my li fe. The
skills I’ve acquired during my short
stay have served me well and will
continue to do so for the rest of my
life. I would love to hear from any
of the class of ’99 who remember
me. After St. John’s, I spent two
years at a local junior college and
finished at Berkeley with a BAin
political science. I just finished my
first year at the Medical College of
Wisconsin, which was as difficult as
it was rewarding.”
Paul Ronco (SF) writes: “Hi,
everyone, hope you’re all doing
well. I had a great year. If you want
to drop me a line, I can be reached
at pronco@hotmail.com.”
Sara J. Elzerman (SF) will begin
her final year of law school this fall
at the University of Southern Cahfornia. She looks forward to prac
ticing in the Los Angeles area.
Kristin Jacob and Steve Dumont
(both SF) write: “We were married
on July 27, 2001. We are currently
living in Seattle where Steve is in
the second year of his union electri
cian apprenticeship and Kristin is an
office manager at a veterinary hospi
tal in Federal Way. We still haven’t
decided what we’re really going to
do with the rest of our lives, but
we’re having fun in the meantime,
attending as many Seattle Mariners
games as we can afford! We’d love
to hear from anyone-e-mail Steve
at imacurioso@aol.com or Kristin
at radinsgirl@aoLcom.”
Josh Hendrix (A) writes: “After
two years of silence, I suppose an
update is overdue. Shortly after
graduation I was hired to run the
summer camp at a small, private
pre-school in Wilmington, Del.
After a successful summer I stayed
on to teach pre-kindergarten and
remain still a pre-K teacher and
head of the preschool department.
I love my work and I’m ecstaticaUy
happy to have the time at night
(free from homework and paperwirting) to play in three bands. P.S.
I recently spent a lovely week in
Jamaica with Kelly O’ Malley (A)
�{Alumni Notes}
and Rob Holbrook (A). Mr. Hol
brook is flourishing in the Peace
Corps there.”
2000
Christopher Vaughan (A) has
received his Associate of Arts
degree from the University of Alas
ka, Anchorage. He will be attend
ing Flagler College in St. Augus
tine, Florida, enrolling in the
education program. He hopes to
teach elementary education to deaf
children.
V.
Leslie Hendrickson (SF)
writes: “Class of 2000: Greetings
all! I have just moved to New York
City and will start work at Colum
bia University soon. I’d love to hear
from friends!” Greetings maybe
sent to vlesliehendrickson@hot
mail.com
Michael Baetz (SF) writes: “It
looks as if I’ll be spending my sec
ond winter in Big Sky, Mt. If anyone
I know wants to ride a great moun
tain, come on out! My e-mail is
mpbaetz@netscape.net. Hope you
are finding your little niches and
enjoying life.”
John Hunter (AGI) and his wife
Lisa live in Chattanooga, Tenn.,
where he teaches ancient world his
tory and Latin and coaches basket
ball and lacrosse. Lisa does technol
ogywork for a local manufacturing
company, S.I. Corporation.
James E. Lewis (SFGI) is now a stu
dent in the psychology department
at New School University in Man
hattan. “This semester,” he writes,
“either I will learn to distinguish
the various forms of schizophrenia.
39
or I will develop a form of schizo
phrenia in which I find some meas
ure of comfort. Otherwise, I have
spent more than one hour attempt
ing to form a connection between
Times Square and the desert, which
I miss.”
Mehmet Can Atacik (A) hoped to
finish his master’s degree in gov
ernment administration at the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania’s Fels Cen
ter of Government this past
summer.
Calling All Alumni
The College wants to hear from you.
Call us, write us, e-mail us. Let
your classmates know what you’re
doing. The next issue will be pub
lished in March; copy deadline is
February i.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404; b-goyette@sjca.edu.
In Santa Fe:
Karina Hean (A) just returned
from a Post Bacc year in Florence,
Italy, where she spent time draw
ing. She got a scholarship to spend
a semester at the Rietvald Academy
(an arts school) in Amsterdam. She
is back in Maryland for a while,
working at the Maryland Hall for
the Creative Arts in their galleries
and funding research.
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Public Relations Office,
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa
Fe, NM 87505-4599;
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu.
Alumni Notes on the Web:
Read Alumni Notes and contact
The College on the web at;
www.scja.edu - click on “Alumni.”
{Alumni Association Awards}
Alumni Award of Merit
At Homecoming in Santa Fe and Annapolis, three alumni werepresented with
the Alumni Award ofMerit by the Alumni Association.
A.T. Michael
MacDonald
(SF76) has devel
oped his career
around a love of
music. MacDonald
runs AlgoRhythms, a digital
mastering studio
in New York. He
records, masters.
and produces jazz, rock, and Broadway; he
also restores archived analog master tapes
of classic performances on the Ed Sullivan
Show-which featured such artists as Louis
Armstrong, The Rolling Stones, and The
Doors. MacDonald has received several
Grammy nominations for his recordings
and two Grammy awards for McCoy-Tyner
recordings he recorded and mastered.
Opera is also on MacDonald’s list: he’s
restoring and digitizing historic concert
performances made between 1935 and
1985. MacDonald has presented several
benefit concerts for St. John’s.
Warren Spector
(A81), the co-president and CEO of
the Wall Street
firm Bear,
Stearns, was intro
duced by Brother
Robert Smith,
who has known
Spector since his
student days.
Brother Robert declined to describe the
importance of his position, saying that
there are ample reports in the Wall Street
Journal and the New York Times. Instead,
he told how Spector first went to Princeton
and studied mathematics. Becoming disen
chanted, he left and supported himself for
a year as a professional bridge player be
fore coming to St. John’s. “Princeton just
wasn’t the sort of community I was looking
for,” said Spector in accepting the award.
“After reading the catalogue I was taken
by the idea of St. John’s. I found here some
thing much greater than the catalogue
described.”
{The College-
St. John’s College . Fall 200/ }
Tom Williams
{A51), a teacher of
middle school
math for 28 years,
was introduced by
president Chris
Nelson, Williams
has lived the
philosophic life,
said Nelson,
because he spent
his time leading young people to knowl
edge. In addition to his many years of teach
ing, Williams inaugurated the local St. Vin
cent de Paul Society and helped with the
last St. John’s fundraising campaign. “He
supports the life of learning and the institu
tions necessary for learning,” said Nelson.
Williams attributed his interest in math to
St, John’s; he said that after he finished
high school math he celebrated because he
didn’t think he would have to take the sub
ject again. But he fell in love with it at St.
John’s and ended up teaching it.
�{Alumni Association Awards}
40
At Homecoming this summer andfall, five were named
honorary alumni by the Alumni Association.
Honorary Alumni
Rjchart Lampert is president of the
Library and Fine Arts Guild in Santa Fe.
Under Lampert’s leadership, the Guild has
grown from 123 members in 1996 to more
than 250 today. Co-owner of Zaplin-Lampert Galleries, he provides a valuable
resource to St. John’s for art history,
appraisals, and general art information. He
contributes to the college by serving as
master of ceremonies at college-communi
ty functions, providing his gallery for col
lege dinners and receptions, and donating
rare and collectible books and fine artwork
for college auctions.
Michael Rodriguez, director of financial
aid in Santa Fe, has been with St. John’s
since 1985. He works hard so that students
can afford to attend, balancing the total
amount of money available for aid with the
strictures governing disbursement of
money from St. John’s College grants, as
well as from other sources. Sympathetic
with the concerns of students, he is
respected for his sensitivity and discretion,
his spirit of cooperation, and above aU, his
desire to help others.
John B. Moore, Jr., Beate Ruhm von Oppen, and Nancy Lewis with Annapolis president
Chris Nelson (SF70).
Nancy Lewis, long-time registrar in
Annapolis, was introduced by Sus3an Bor
den (A87), who spoke about the former
registrar’s “grace, elegance, kindness,
care, senstivity, and intelligence.” Lewis
served as registrar from 1976 until her
retirement in 1999. She started the F-i
Club for foreign students and is known for
her tireless advocacy on behalf of all John
nies. “When I was a student,” said Borden,
“I thought of the campus as her home and
her office as her living room. She was the
gracious, graceful hostess who did every
thing she could to make you feel welcome.”
retirement in 1987 he has become involved
in the cultural community, especially at St.
John’s, where he is admired for the care
and wit he has exercised in guiding the
Mitchell Gallery and the Board of the
Friends.
John B. Moore, Jr., founding chairman
of the Mitchell Gallery Board of Advisors
and a past president of the Board of the
Friends of St. John’s, was introduced by
Jeff Bishop, vice president in Annapolis.
After a career in engineering and business,
Moore served with the U.S. Commerce
Department and then in Maryland state
government, where he established the
Division of Cultural Affairs. Since his
Beate Ruhm von Oppen, a tutor at the col
lege since i960, was introduced by Elliott
Zuckerman. He described her as one of the
tutors who “brought to the college some
thing of a different and wider world” and
talked about how she had been moved
many times during the first half of her life
“by what we take to be the darkest and
most dreadful events...” A scholar who doc-
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Fall aooi }
Michael Rodriguez
umented the resistance of the German peo
ple to Nazism, von Oppen continues to
“insist upon accuracy, as opposed to the
glib generalizations we all encounter.”
This and a love of language, added to her
love of music (especially that of Bach and
Mozart), she conveyed to students at the
college over the course of many years.
�{Campus Life}
What I Did
on
My Summer Vacation
They didn Y scoop ice cream and they didn't wait tables. They weren Y lifeguards or temps or bookstore
clerks. Instead, these Johnnies set offon their own kinds ofsummer adventures.
By SuS3AN Borden,
A87
Musical Interlude
spent my summer doing
one of the sweetest jobs I
can think of,” says senior
Mirabai Knight, “I played
violin, trumpet, and bas
soon for the Bigfork Sum
mer Playhouse in Bigfork, Mon
tana.” This was Knight’s fourth
season with the Playhouse’s pro
fessional repertory musical the
ater company; she started right
out of high school. It was her
first job ever, but one she was
well-qualified for: she’s played
violin since she was four, trum
pet since fifth grade and bassoon
since sixth. Although she had
never intended to play profes
sionally, her trumpet teacher
(who had worked at the Play
house before) suggested she take
the job, one which Knight found
to be both fun and easy, at least
for the musicians.
“They audition actors from all over the
country-17 of’em have appeared on
Broadway since-and put them through
frigging boot camp: 4 musicals and i play
up in about a weeks each. But we pit musi
cians hardly break a sweat,” she says.
And for what she considered minimal
effort, Knight earned $200 a week plus
free lodging at the edge of the biggest natu
ral lake in Montana. “Bigfork is an hour
from Glacier National Park and a spit and a
jump from four rivers and two mighty
mountain ranges,” she says, explaining
that she spent much of her free time swim
ming and hiking.
During performances, when she wasn’t
playing, Knight sat in the darkened theater
and read by the light of her music stand
lamp. Her reading list included War and
Peace and she made an attempt to reread
the junior lab manual. “It was fun work,”
she concludes of the four summers at the
Playhouse, “at least during those moments
when I didn’t have ‘June is Busting Out All
Over’ stuck in my head.”
’***S
Erin Hanlon(SFo3)
Mirabai Knight (SF02) performing in
“Fiddler on the Roof”
Easier Than Aristotle
Junior Erin Hanlon spent the summer
working with scientist Mac Post at the
Environmental Science Division of Oak
Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. Hanlon
investigated the effects of elevated levels of
atmospheric carbon dioxide on soil sam
ples. Her work will eventually play a role in
establishing a scientific understanding of
issues addressed by the Kyoto Protocol, a
global treaty for environmental protection.
Hanlon’s work used soil cores that Post
had previously buried in the Oak Ridge
PAGE (Free-Air COa Enrichment) Site.
The site, a sweetgum plantation, is provid
ed with controlled amounts of elevated car
bon dioxide to simulate conditions that are
predicted to occur within a few decades.
Hanlon and Post retrieved the buried soil
cores, took samples, and then returned the
cores to their previous positions. Samples
were prepared and analyzed. Then it was
up to Hanlon to determine what the data
meant. “There were some interesting
{The College.
Sf. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
results,” she says. “The general
trend was what we were expecting:
a decrease in carbon in the isolated
soil cores while the surrounding
soil carbon levels remained
steady.”
Hanlon explains that microbial
respiration was most likely taking
carbon dioxide out of the soil and
releasing it into the air. While this
does not happen in all types of soil, it has
implications for the Kyoto Protocol’s car
bon dioxide credit program, where coun
tries producing excess carbon dioxide can
pay other countries whose production falls
below maximum levels for their credits.
Hanlon’s internship was part of the
Global Change Education Program. The
program gives undergraduate and graduate
students research experience in fields
related to global change (commonly
referred to as global warming) and intro
duces them to the work environment of the
national labs.
What equipped the liberal-arts educated
Hanlon to work in an internship for science
majors and students already studying sci
ence on the graduate level? St. John’s lab
and seminar. “There were times when I
wished I had taken a statistics or a bio-geochemistry course, but that was generally
when I wanted to have the knowledge handy
in my brain and not have to read another
paper to get the information I needed,” she
says. “Freshman lab and Aristotle were def
initely helpful, though. Anything is easier
to read than the Metaphysics^
�4^
{Alumni Association News}
From the Alumni
Association
President
Surveys can be great, but they are always
less than half of a conversation. I am hop
ing that this letter can continue the conver
sation started by a recent college telephone
survey of alumni. The primary purpose of
the survey was to find out what alumni
wanted to see in the new college web site
coming sometime in aooa. The data
helped give a profile of who our alumni are
today and how they think about the college
and their relationships to it. One of the
most interesting findings was that alumni,
like you, wanted to be more involved in the
college today. Memories of experiences
past are wonderful, and the opportunities
to extend and expand connections with the
college are even better!
The college provides many different
ways for alumni to stay in touch with each
other, with the Program, and with their
friends on both campuses. A new CollegeWide Alumni Strategy has been developed
to examine and improve opportunities for
alumni to continue their life-long partici
pation in the college community. It out
lines the current programs that are avail
able and suggests new avenues for making
the most of our common history and cur
rent interests. Here are just a few of the
ways that you can participate in St. John’s
College today.
Enjoy a face-to-face meeting with other
Johnnies who live in your area. Alumni
Association Chapters are available in many
large cities. The Chapters meet regularly
for a variety of events. Seminar, food,
drink, chat, and career networking are a
few of the most frequent activities at Chap
ter meetings. Baseball games, theater, and
general revelry also find their ways into
Chapter plans. If you live in an area that
has a Chapter, check it out. If you are not
one of the “geographically privileged,”
consider starting a Chapter in your area or
take advantage of other opportunities to
connect.
The on-line presence of Johnnies is
expanding quickly. In addition to the web
sites and listserves (both those officially
sponsored by the college and unofficially
run by tech-sawy alumni), alumni around
the country are participating in on-line
conversations with other Johnnies. If you
want to get involved, drop me an e-mail,
and I will point you to one of the “electron
ic coffee shops” that are springing up
around cyberspace.
The college and the Alumni Association
host three homecoming events each year
(Croquet Weekend in spring in Annapobs,
Homecoming in Santa Fe in summer, and
Homecoming in Annapolis in fall.) These
are great times to visit the campuses to
catch up with old friends and make new
ones. You might also enjoy the two weeks
of Alumni Summer Programs in Santa Fe.
During the weeks before and after Homecoming, alumni gather to read and talk
about a topic. The topics are suggested by
the Association Board. If you have one that
you’d like to have considered, drop me an
e-mail.
There are also wonderful opportunities
for you to support the college with your
time and talents. The Alumni Association
Board is always looking for Directors to
help plan and implement Association activ
ities, alumni members to serve on the
Board of Visitors and Governors, and nom
inees for Honorary Alumnus or Award of
Merit. Philanthropia (the Alumni Develop
ment Council) offers the opportunity for
alumni to be involved in fundraising
efforts. The Placement Offices need alum
ni who will provide information about
career opportunities and graduate schools.
The Admissions offices need alumni to
contact prospectives and provide the
“inside look” at the college and its pro
gram. Both campuses are expanding their
summer internship programs to provide
current students with chances to explore
career opportunities prior to graduation.
You may be able to offer such a rich experi
ence through your own professional con
nections. If you are interested in any of
these opportunities, or if you think of
another way that you’d like to participate
in the college community, check out the
college web site to find out who to contact.
{The Colleges?.
John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
Or, you can drop me an e-mail, and I’ll for
ward it along to someone who can guide
you.
As alumni we know the joys and chal
lenges of the St. John’s approach to learn
ing. Each of us has integrated those experi
ences into our lives, and the college
provides us many opportunities to contin
ue our life-long journey of learning in com
munity. Some of us choose to build on our
personal relationships. Some pursue the
intellectual challenges. Some focus on
financial support. Some find the time and
energy to support the college as volun
teers. If you are among the Johnnies who
want to reconnect or maintain your con
nection with the college, you can choose
the ways or combination of ways that suit
you at this time in your life. When you do,
you benefit, the college benefits, and so do
all of your fellow alumni who share your
love of books, of conversation, and of the
institution that brings the two together in
such a unique and powerful way.
For the past, the present, and the future,
Glenda Eoyang SF 76
Eoyang@chaos-limited.com
President
St. John's College Alumni Association
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Whether from Annapobs or Santa Fe, under
graduate or Graduate Institute, Old Program
or New, graduated or not, all alumni have
automatic membership in the St. John’s Col
lege Alumni Association. The Alumni Associa
tion is an independent organization, with a
Board of Directors elected by and from the
alumni body. The Board meets four times a
year, twice on each campus, to plan programs
and coordinate the affairs of the Association.
This newsletter within The College magazine
is sponsored by the Alumni Association and
communicates Alumni Association news and
events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary-Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-the-Word-Out Action Team ChairTom Geyer, ABB
Web site - www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Mailing address - Alumni Association, St.
John’s College, Box 2800, Annapobs, MD
21404 or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe,
NM 87505-4599.
�{AlumniAssociationNews}
First All-Alumni
Art Show
By Elizabeth Pollard Jenny, SF8o
The Santa Fe campus Fine Arts Gallery
hosted its first All-Alumni Art Show this
July, coinciding with Homecoming. The
multi-media show was eclectic and reflected
the many artistic viewpoints of the partici
Billy Lieb, a scupltor from the Annapolis
CLASS OF 1957, CAME BACK TO St. JoHn’s FOR
THE FIRST TIME SINCE HIS GRADUATION TO
EXHIBIT HIS ART IN THE ALUMNI SHOW.
pating artists who represented both cam
puses. Twenty-five alumni, spanning class
years from 1959 through 2001, were able to
connect with the college in a new way.
Some alumni who participated are profes
sional artists, while others are art teachers
or enthusiastic dabblers in such media as
ceramics, drawing, fiber, glass, mixed
media, mosaic, photography, sculpture,
and painting. Artistic styles were as varied
as the media, and included conceptual, rep
resentational, abstract, impressionistic, and
a multitude of other approaches.
As I consider the work in the show, it
occurs to me that while we were in school
we were encouraged to develop an original
ity of mind as well as of conviction - that we
had a right and a responsibility to develop
our opinions. We also were encouraged to
cultivate the learning skills that serve to
enhance the reservoir of experience neces
sary for creative inspiration and insight. I
think these qualities of mind explain both
the diversity and harmony apparent in this
year’s show.
One observer, tutor Cary Stickney (A75),
beheves that art rounds out a liberal educa
tion. In his opinion, there is a mimetic
quality to art that allows one to render a
subject without quite knowing how one did
it. To him, this is delightful and gratifying.
Perhaps this explains, in part, the addition
of studio art to the senior year curriculum
in Santa Fe. Mr. Stickney also said that the
All-Alumni Art Show provided an interest
ing addition to the college community
shows that are held annually on the Santa
Fe campus.
I hope that a conversa
tion will emerge among
St. John College alumni
about how, if at all, the St.
John’s educational experi
ence has influenced their
artwork. This year the art
work spoke for itself. We
hope those who partici
pated this first year will be
joined by other under
graduate and graduate
alumni in the All-Alumni
Art Show in July 2002 on
the Santa Fe campus.
Thanks to the following
2001 participants:
Karen Andrews SF91 (Mixed Media)
Joseph Baratta A69 (Printmaker)
MaryBeth Bliss SF76 (Glass)
Beatrice Butler SF80 (Painter)
Jennifer Chenoweth CI SF95
(Sculptor/Photographer)
Steve Conn SF98 (Collage)
Donna Contractor SF80 (Tapestry)
Rebecca Einsig A86 (Photographer)
Beatrice Eleftheriou SF82 (Glass)
Elizabeth Faulhauber SF85 (Sculptor)
Cinda Graham Kelly A62 (Sculptor)
Liza Hyatt SF85 (Printmaker/Mosaics)
Margaret Inbody GI SF90 (Printmaker)
Elizabeth Ivers SF82 (Painter)
Elizabeth Pollard Jenny SF80 (Painter)
Billy Lieb A57 (Sculptor)
Ebby Malmgren GI A88
(Ceramics/Printmaker)
Abbey McAndrew A78 (Painter)
Frank McGuire GI SF69 (Sculptor)
Kay Maureen Moses GI SF82 (Painter)
Christopher Quinn GI SFoi
(Photographer)
Roberta Razafy SF74 (Painter)
Vivian Ronay A65 (Photographer)
Ken Vaughn SF87 (Painter)
Nancy Westheimer GI SF94
(Painter/Calligrapher)
{The College -St
John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
43
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
505-^^75-9012
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin
410-280-0958
AUSTIN
Jennifer Chenoweth
5x2-482-0747
BALTIMORE
Roberta Gable
410-626-2531
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
CHICAGO
Lorna Anderson
773-338-8651
DENVER
Elizabeth Pollard
Jenny
303-530-3373
LOS ANGELES
Elizabeth Eastman
562-426-1934
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Carol Freeman
612-822-3216
NEWYORK
Fielding Dupuy
212-974-2922
NORTH CAROLINA
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
215-465-0244
PORTLAND
Dale Mortimer
360-882-9058
SACRAMENTO
Helen Hobart
916-452-1082
SAN DIEGO:
Stephanie Rico
619-423-4972
SAN FRANCISCO,
NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Jon Hodapp
831-393-9496
SANTA FE:
John Pollak
505-983-2144
SEATTLE
Amina Stickford
206-269-0182
WASHINGTON DC
Jean Dickason
301-699-6207
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
972-2-6717608
b0azl@cc.hu3i.ac.il
A special thank you goes out to the
Library and Fine Arts Guild Arts Commit
tee for its enthusiastic support of the idea
for an alumni art show; to Ginger Roherty,
Art Gallery Director, and Maggie Magalnick. Art Gallery Assistant Director, and to
Glenda Eoyang, president of the Alumni
Association, and to the Association for
their generosity in helping to make the
show a resounding success.
All alumni interested in being involved in
next summer’s show to be held in July 2002
on the Santa Fe Campus should
contact Maggie Magalnick byphone:
5O5-g84-6tgg, or by e-mail:
maggie@mail.sjcsf.edu; or by mail c/o St.
John’s College, 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 8’^5os-45gg.
�44
PaulT. Beisser
Class ofig42
Paul T. Beisser, a retired produce broker,
died in August. Born in Reading, Pennsyl
vania, Mr. Beisser graduated from St.
John’s in 1942. He was a veteran of the U.S.
Coast Guard and a member of the Knights
of Columbus. After working as a produce
broker in St. Louis, he retired to Lampe,
Missouri. Surviving are his wife, Winnie;
three sons; three daughters; 20 grandchil
dren; and four great-grandchildren.
Robert O. Davis
Class ofig48
Robert O. Davis, a writer and editor who
was a member of the class of r948, died in
May. He was Chief Editor of Reports and
Publications at the U.S. Steel Research
Laboratory in Monroeville, Penn., from
1967 to 1982. Following retirement, he was
active as a freelance editor and writer for
the Association of Iron & Steel Engineers
and other technical societies.
He graduated from McKeesport High
School in Pennsylvania in 1938. A naviga
tor in the 8th Air Force in World War II, he
received the Air Medal and a Presidential
Unit Citation. After service, he attended
St. John’s. Active as a sportsman and envi
ronmentalist, he was a past president of the
Fort Pitt Retriever Club and the first chair
of the Pittsburgh chapter of Friends of the
Earth. He is survived by his wife, June, and
by a son and daughter, two granddaugh
ters, and a sister.
Robert Moody McKinney
Member ofthe Board
Robert McKinney, financier and publisher
of the Santa Fe New Mexican, died in July.
Born on the dining table of a church par
sonage in Shattuck, Oklahoma, in rpro, Mr.
McKinney went on to become a major play
er in the financial world, an advisor to pres
idents and senators, the ambassador to
Switzerland, an authority on the uses of
atomic energy, and the publisher of the
Santa Fe New Mexican. He was instrumen
tal in bringing St. John’s College to Santa
Fe and served on the Board of Visitors and
Governors from r953 to 1968.
In a tribute to McKinney written shortly
after his death, David Boren, U.S. Senator
from Oklahoma, said, “The history of
Robert’s hfe reads like an adventure story.”
From humble beginnings, Mr. McKinney
put himself through the University of Okla
homa. Determined to make his own way, he
set out for New York in 1932. His luggage
{Obituaries}
was stolen, and with the small amount of
insurance money he received, he started
investing. Within a decade he had attained
financial success by purchasing solid assets
from bankrupt companies. He served on
the boards of many companies including
ITT, TWA, Martin-Marietta, and the Rock
Island Railroad. He served in the Navy dur
ing World War II, where he helped develop
the Tiny Tim rocket. After the war, he
served as ambassador to the International
Atomic Energy Agency, ambassador to
Switzerland, and in posts in the Treasury
Department under Johnson and Nixon.
McKinney learned about St. John’s when
as a young naval reserve officer he led a suc
cessful drive to forestall the Naval Acade
my’s expropriation of the Annapohs cam
pus for expansion in the mid-i94os. He
later served on the Board. He led Richard
Weigle to Santa Fe and arranged for him to
meet John Gaw Meem, who donated land
for the new campus.
Lucille Murchison
Member ofthe Board
Lucille Murchison, who served on the
Board of Visitors and Governors from 1988
to 1994, died in July. Born in Dallas, Mrs.
Murchison became a passionate advocate
for the arts in that city. She married John
Murchison in 1947. The John and Lupe
Murchison Chair at the Santa Fe campus is
the result of a 1979 challenge offered by the
couple. Mrs. Murchison also served 18
years on the University of North Texas
board of regents and was co-owner of the
Dallas Cowboys from 1979 to 1984.
Hilyer Shufeldt
Class ofig55
Hilyer Gearing Shufeldt, an elementary
school teacher in Annapohs for 30 years,
died in October. Born in California, she
traveled with her Navy family as a child, liv
ing in many cities before settling in
Annapolis. She graduated from Annapolis
High School and attended St. John’s for
one year. She married and while her hus
band pursued an academic career, she
raised four children.
In 1967 she moved back to Annapolis fol
lowing a divorce and taught at Anne Arun
del County elementary and middle schools.
She completed her BA degree in teaching
at Bowie State University and earned a
master of arts from the Graduate Institute
in 1983. Surviving are her sons, one broth
er, and five grandchildren.
{The College -St John ’5
College • Fall 2001 }
Samuel V. Stiles
Class ofig54
Samuel V. Stiles, Jr., a longtime supporter
of the college, died at the age of 75 on
August 3. He served as the president of the
Washington, D.C. chapter of the Alumni
Association from 1993 until his death. A
resolution of the Alumni Association says:
“The leadership that he provided the
group was not only efficient and organized;
he was indeed the heart, soul and spine of
the chapter. As a discussion leader his pres
ence was subtle, gentle and profound,
encouraging and validating all points of
view. He loved books and he loved to
understand. Even when his illness made it
hard for him, he seemed to thrive in the
meeting of the minds around the discus
sion table. His manner was always gentle
and reserved; he set the tone for the group
to have thoughtful discussion.”
He was a native of Louisville, Ky., and a
resident of Rockville, Md. He served in the
Navy in the Atlantic during World War IL
He graduated cum laude from Emory Uni
versity before attending St. John’s. He
received a master’s degree in political sci
ence from the University of Indiana and
taught that subject at the University of
Kentucky before moving to the Washing
ton area to work at the National Institutes
of Health. He also worked in the Peace
Corps and was deputy administrator in
Togo. He retired in the mid-eighties from
the Public Health Service, after working as
an administrator of the Volunteers in Ser
vice to America. His hfe was dedicated to
helping others.
He is survived by his wife, Sally West
hofen Stiles, and two sons, David and
Steve.
Rev. David Streett II
Class ofig$o
The Rev. David Streett, a retired Episcopal
priest, died in August. Born in Baltimore,
Father Streett graduated from City Col
lege. He served in the Navy during World
War II in the Pacific. After being dis
charged, he earned a BA from St. John’s in
1951 and an MA in theology from Virginia
Theological Seminary in 1954. He served at
churches in Baltimore and Cumberland
and founded the Episcopal Church of the
Good Shepherd in Ruxton.
He moved to Georgia in the rpBos and
worked with Planned Parenthood and anti
poverty programs. Later he was the clinical
chaplain for the Augusta State Medical
Prison. He retired in 1993 from the Missis
�{Obituaries}
sippi State Prison at Parchman. He is sur
vived by his wife, Betty Lou; three daugh
ters; two brothers; two grandchildren; two
stepdaughters; and two stepgrandchildren.
Charles H. Watts II
Member ofthe Board
Charles H. Watts II, former president of
Bucknell University and a member of the
St. John’s Board of Visitors and Governors
for many years, died in September. Born in
Bronxville, New York, he earned a bache
lor’s degree and doctorate in American lit
erature from Brown University and a mas
ter’s from Columbia University. He taught
English at Brown from 1953 to 1963. At the
age of 37 he became president of Bucknell
University. He served for la years, handling
a variety of situations including the
protests against the Vietnam War.
In 1975 Mr. Watts returned to Boston and
became general director of Beneficial
Finance Corporation, which was founded
by his father. He served on the boards of
academic, corporate, and civic institutions.
He was a member of the Audubon Society
and the New Hampshire Forest Society and
was devoted to conservation causes.
At St. John’s he was known for his
straightforward analyses, common-sense
questions, and persevering attitude. Most
recently, he served on the Search Commit
tee for the president of the Santa Fe cam
pus. Mr. Watts was made an honorary
alumnus, class of 2000, by the St. John’s
Alumni Association.
He is survived by his wife, Patricia;
two daughters and a son; and six grand
children.
In Memory Of Robert Arne, SFGI83
Last autumn many in the St. John’s College
community lost a friend, Robert Arne,
SFGI83. Diagnosed with a swiftly acting
terminal illness, Robert Arne faced the last
few weeks of his life as he had lived much of
it - reading Plato in Greek and discussing
politics and philosophy with the numerous
friends who visited him. Although his last
days were painful he took only the mildest
doses of medication so as to remain lucid in
order to converse with his visitors and, as
he said, “to experience as fully as I can this
passage.”
It may surprise some who knew Robert
that his first passion as a young man was
art, and he attended art school before
studying engineering at Berkeley to honor
his father’s wishes; but the emphasis on
practicality in engineering left his budding
interest in theory unsatisfied, so he
switched his major to physics. It was while
pursuing a graduate degree in physics that
he met philosophy in the person of one of
those rare beings-a genuinely philosophi
cal soul who is also a splendid teacher. It
changed his life. He studied and loved clas
sical Greek, philosophy, and particularly
Plato. His life from then on was governed
by these loves. Anything that did not serve
these ends was jettisoned. He lived austere
ly; his habits were simple and his dress was
plain. Hoping to make his living teaching
philosophy he pursued a PhD, but a degen
erative retina problem diagnosed some
years earlier worsened, and he was declared
legally blind. With effort he could still
read, but only slowly; he was forced to
leave the program. He taught at private
schools for several years, but his condition
required him to seek a community where
he could attend to his needs by walking;
furthermore it had also to be intellectually
stimulating. He learned of Santa Fe and St.
John’s College. For the sheer joy of the
conversation he earned yet another mas
ter’s degree through the Graduate Institute
and taught Greek privately to any who were
interested; for several years he taught
Greek to Institute students through the
auspices of the college. Always the conver
sationalist, he was instrumental in forming
a weekly reading group which was one part
of what became the Santa Fe Chapter of the
Alumni Association.
Five days before he died Robert put down
the dialogue he had been reading for lack
of strength to make sense of the text. It was
the Parmenides. To the end he was trying
to understand.
—John Carroll Pollak, SFCI80
In Memory Of Constance Darkey
It is a melancholy pleasure to write about
Connie Darkey, who died last May at the
age of 84. We had known each other for 44
years. Her husband. Bill Darkey, was my
co-leader in 1957 when I was a freshman
tutor. It was a memorable freshmen semi
nar-some of its members have been life
long friends-and to top it off, every Thurs
day after seminar Bill would take me to his
house. There, over a glass of wine with
crackers and cheese (I remember the hos
pitable details vividly over the decades), I
was initiated into the college as a living
community.
Connie took a strong part in these con
{The College -Sr.
John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
45
versations. She had played a role in this
world for a dozen years before I came, as
bookstore manager and faculty wife. In
those early days the bookstore was the veri
table center of the college, located right
next to the coffee shop, and the manager
knew a lot of what went on. Connie was
very much on the inside of the place. She
was passionately interested in the way the
program worked on students and in the
effect the faculty had on them. It would not
be too much to say that her keen observa
tions, censorious and generous, excited
and penetrating, first showed me that I was
committed to become part of a quarrel
somely loyal working family, that the
absorbingly intellectual program of the
college was carried on by a band of glori
ously human colleagues. No young tutor
could have undergone a more candid and
therefore a more engaging induction to
this college.
When Bill and Connie moved to Santa Fe
as part of the founding generation of that
campus, I discovered before long that Con
nie kept an eye on my doings and writings
from afar. Eventually part of the pleasure
of producing anything was to send it to her.
Before too long would come a letter with
illuminating questions followed by that
most gratifying compliment a reader can
give: an appreciative pouncing on the sen
tences closest to the writer’s heart. Connie
was the most empathetic of readers.
Of course she was that much the more a
discerning reader of great books. It was
delightful to talk to her about a novel, or any
book. I would have loved to have been in
seminar with her as I once was with BiU. We
might have had some blazing battles for the
benefit of our students as well as moments
of perfect concord. I always thought of her
as a fellow tutor and the three of us almost
always got together for a couple of hours of
conversation when I was in Santa Fe; even
in the last years, when she wasn’t well, she
hadn’t lost her spirited acuteness. I shall
miss her, and I think often of Bill’s loss.
— Eva Brann
Also noted...
Alfred Franklin, Class of 1951, died in
August.
Mary J. Navratil, SFGI71, died in May.
Samuel Schenker, Class of 1939, died in
September.
Dr. Francis Townsend, Jr., Class of 1938,
died in August.
�46
{Alumni Voices}
COURTLY LOVE
On the intimate experience ojplayinp basketball.
By Jane McManus,
A93
M
y one regret after my mother died was the archon of the athletic department, took
my mother aside. “Your daughter,” he said,
that she never saw me play basketball. I choosing his words carefully, “she’s a very
player.” She got a big kick out of
never played in high school and parents tenacious
that, and so did 1.1 liked to think of myself
don’t generally travel hundreds of as the Bill Laimbeer of women’s intramural
hoops.
miles to see their kids play a game of
College was my first experience playing
basketball, though we fielded no intercolle
college pick-up. They don’t pack the giate teams. Never formally coached, I like
to think of myself
as a pure player, which
sideline at the YMCA to watch their adult children
in knee
only means I don’t know many plays. I don’t
braces and with taped fingers pretend to be
18anyagain.
have
memories of suicide sprints or
Pulling my basketball shoes out last Janu
ary, two weeks after she died, lacing them
up slowly, I tried to clear my mind of all the
thoughts that had kept me inert on the couch
all morning. The local Y sets aside two
hours a day starting at noon for basketball.
I figured it was time I worked on my shot.
I had been constantly by my mother’s side
in a hospice watching her gradually deterio
rate. I’d talk to her about local games I’d
seen. She seemed to find a pleasant diver
sion in my words. Maybe she just hked lis
tening to my voice, and I was desperate to
find something to fill the stale air in her
room. After all the necessary things have
been said and done, there is little left but
make vain attempts to give comfort. She
took her comfort in the mundane details I
supphed.
Those days ran together. I stayed up late
unable to sleep. Nothing else mattered. And
then suddenly, but expectedly, my days were
empty in late December.
Friends, proverbially well-meaning, dis
pensed awkward words and half-meant invi
tations to get out of the house. Their plans
took too much energy. I drew in, spending
all my time thinking about what was lost, no
conversation could alleviate any part of my
sadness.
My worn leather ball had gone flat in the
months I hadn’t played. At St. John’s Col
lege, the game had been as much a part of
school as class. We chmbed on the roof to
Jane McManus and her mother
break into the gym on summer nights to play
pick-up. During the school year there were
games every night. We’d play until well after
midnight, exhausted and with sweat drip
ping into our eyes.
The gym was built in 1909, and its insides
look like one of those courts on old reels of
grainy basketball footage. Hot in the sum
mer, cold in the winter, the gym was filled
with outdated equipment; balls bounced
funny if at all. The ceiling beams were
exposed, ehminating the half-court shot and
the cross-court pass.
The weekend I graduated, Leo Pickens,
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
dribbhng exercises. The concept of a pick
was a revelation.
I’ve worked hard on my game, but I’ll take
whatever credit I come by. When I tell peo
ple I played in college, sometimes they
assume I mean St. John’s the university and
not the college. Admittedly, I don’t always
go out of my way to correct them. I figure a
couple of permanently jammed fingers justi
fy any fack of clarification.
Basketball has become so much a part of
who I am it is hard for me to imagine a time I
didn’t play. I bought an official leather ball
when I graduated. It seemed a huge expense
at the time but it was an investment.
Last winter brought the first prolonged
period of time I didn’t play. The gravity of
trying to finish graduate schoof, look for
work and bury my mother so overwhelmed
me that I sat still all day, never exactly tired,
but unable to get up.
My stepfather called to tell me I should
come over and go through my mother’s
things; jewelry, photographs and clothes
still fresh with her scent.
Get up. That January day I dragged myself
to the Y and started practicing foul shots in
another ancient gym. I was trying not to
think about anything, just the rim and the
ball and the muffled sound of a runner on
the overhead track. The ball felt too heavy
and my first shot dinked off the front of the
rim and landed hard back in my hands.
A few other people wandered into the gym
and began to warm up. A game of half-court
three-on-three was organized and I was the
�reluctant sixth. I felt self conscious, but as
the game got going the familiar competitive
tweak returned.
January bled into February, I spent weeks
doing httle but going to the Y to play ball.
The routine was the only thing that made
me even shghtly comfortable again. The
rules don’t change once you think you have
them down.
The structure of the game, things hke
clearing the 3-point hne after a change of
possession, checking the ball, the sound of
four bodies coUiding for a rebound, all of it
was ingrained. And unhke other social situa
tions where people tried to be helpful or
consoling, the guys at the Y just wanted to
know if 1 was up for another game of 21.
''Built in igog, the gym
had exposed ceiling
beams, eliminating the
half-court shot and the
cross-courtpass.
1 usually was. Just on the off chance that,
although tired, I might make the open shot
or get a rebound against someone with a
couple inches on me. Something that made
me feel hke everything was working and
order had returned.
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
There is something immensely soothing
about a game of pick-up with a regular
group of people you don’t know well. You
know their game, who always takes the shot,
who always passes, who blows the layup. At
the end of two hours, knees aching, 1 would
walk out into the grey afternoon without my
coat on and, before the sadness returned, 1
felt for a moment that there was nothing but
my face and the cool air.
And that, more than anything else, was
exactly what I needed.
Jane McManus is a sportswriter at
The Journal News in Westchester County,
New York.
�48
{St. John’s Forever}
uring the Second World
training of the intellect that happens in
War, students at St.
the learning and practice of the manual
John’s received some use
arts as well as the liberal arts. Also,
ful education. According
Buchanan knew that one learns quite a bit
to Winfree Smith’s histo
of physics if one acquires a full under
ry of the New Program (A
standing of all the transformations of
Searchfor the Liberal College, energy
1985), they
that take place in the internal com
were offered a three-hour, oncebustion
a weekengine.”
course in radio. There was a course in
Franz Plunder spent the summer of
navigation. And Franz Plunder-a sculp
1942 designing and building new desks
tor, marine architect, and boat-builderand beds of walnut to outfit dormitory
taught a course on the gasoline engine.
rooms (he also made the Coffee Shop
“No one knew which St. Johnnie might be
tables). Said a student in the yearbook:
stranded in a tank somewhere on the bat
“The desks, when swept clear of all intel
tlefront, where there would be no hard
lectual material, made excellent bars. The
ware store and mechanics for him to turn
beds were designed without head or foot
to,” explains a student in the 194a Year
and thus made excellent daybeds; they
book. Winfree Smith’s account adds:
gave, as it were, a range of two-hundred
“Actually the course was in line with
and seventy degrees of attack.”
[Scott] Buchanan’s view that there is a
D
{The College -
St. John’s College . Fall 2001 }
Franz Plunder in the
WOODSHOP WITH THE WALNUT
BEDS HE MADE FOR
DORM ROOMS.
St. JoHn’s
�■ s
{Alumni Events Calendar}
a
On a prefect southwestern July day, Santa Fe alumni enjoyed their perfect southwest
ern RELAXED PICNIC.
Croquet Match
April 37, aooa, i p.m., Annapolis
A stunning comeback is predicted for the
15 and 4 Johnnies who unexpectedly lost
last year’s match. Will revenge be sweet?
8 T
TIC
June 30 - July 5, Santa te
•
Arts and Letters of New Mexico;
Alexis de Toqueville,
Democracy in. America
July 7 - la, Santa Fe
Plato, The Republic, The Qur’an and the
life of Muhammad
i—Santa
Friday, July 5 - Smd^, juiy 7
Reunion classes: 1972,1977,198a, 1987,
199a, and 1997
imecoming, aooa-Annapolij
Friday, October 4 - Sunday, October 6
Reunion classes: 193a, 1937,194a, 1947,
1952,1957,1963,1957,1962,1967,197a,
1977’ 1982,1987,1993,1997
Secontfl
LShi
Santa 1iSia
The show will take place during Homecoming aooa. If you’re interested in par
ticipating, please contact Maggie Magalnick (505-984-6199) or Elizabeth Pollard
Jenny (303-530-3373).
For information on events, contact the
Offices of Alumni Activities;
Tahmina Shalizi
Director of Alumni and Parent Activities
Santa Fe-505-984-6103
tshalizi@mail.sjcsf.edu
Roberta Gable
Director of Alumni Activities
Annapolis-4io-6a6-a53i
alumni@sjca.edu
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�STJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
Published by the
Public Relations Office
Box aSoo
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
address service requested
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
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The St. John's College Communications Office published <em>The College </em>magazine for alumni. It began publication in 2001, continuing the <em>St. John's Reporter</em>, and ceased with the Fall 2017 issue.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=56">Items in The College (2001-2017) Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
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The College, Fall 2001
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Goyette, Barbara (editor)
Borden, Sus3en (assistant editor)
Ducker, Susanne (graphic designer)
Mulry, Laura J. (Santa Fe editor)
Johnson, David
Morrison, Marissa
Hancock, Evan
Randall, Thomson
Idema, James
Pastille, William
Sanfilippo, Mark
Gable, Roberta
Eoyang, Glenda H.
The College
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know.
”
scholarly sites and Annapolis tutor Joe Sachs’ translation of The Physics
A
on barnesandnoble.com. Aristotle’s writings - in Latin translation were the “source of the dominant teachings of the European universi
ties” for about five centuries up to 1600; “for the four centuries since
then they have been reviled as the source of a rigid and empty dogmatism
that stifled any genuine pursuit of knowledge,” according to Sachs in the
introduction to his translation. Almost every book of philosophy read on
the program alludes to Aristotle, whether to follow him or to divert from
his supposed course. For example, Kant, in his preface to the second
edition of the Critique ofPure Reason, notes: “That logic has already,
from the earliest time, proceeded upon this sure path [of a science] is
evidenced by the fact that since Aristotle it has not required to retrace a
single step...”
Aristotle lived from 384 to 32a B.C. He was the student of Plato, the
teacher of Alexander the Great. His dad was a physician, so as a youth he
probably was channeled into the kind of studies that would prepare him
for a career in medicine. He founded a school in Athens, the Lyceum,
where he walked around and lectured; he’s variously described as slight,
a dandy of a dresser, and speaking with a lisp. When he wanted to write
about politics, he collected information about the government and
history of 158 cities. At St. John’s, a lot of time is spent reading and
talking about Aristotle, and this is a place where what he actually said
is taken seriously.
-BG
Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404-2800.
Annapolis
410-626-2539
b-goyette@sjca.edu
Barbara Goyette, editor
Sus3an Borden, assistant editor
Jennifer Behrens,
graphic designer
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Katherine Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu
Laura J. Mulry, Santa Fe editor
Advisory Board
Alexis Brown
Robert Glick
Grant Franks
David Levine
Margaret Odell
John Rankin
Ginger Roherty
Tahmina Shalizi
Mark St. John
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�{Contents}
PAGE
IO
DEPARTMENTS
a FROM THE bell TOWERS
A Conversation with
•
•
•
•
•
John Balkcom
Santa Fe’s new president talks about
his past life as a consultant, his present
challenges at the college, and his vision
for the future.
PAGE
•
•
•
l6
The Logos According
TO Aristotle
Introducing The College
A spooky Mellon Hall
Belly dancing alumnae
Febbie class to be discontinued
Philanthropia encourages thumos
among future alumni
Top ten program books
Summer Classics offerings
The life of Leo Raditsa
9 ALUMNI VOICES
•
Annapolis tutor Joe Sachs (A68) has
translated four of Aristotle’s works.
His principle: use ordinary English
to capture the freshness of the
philosopher’s thought.
A defining moment for everyone from
the 1940s: Pearl Harbor Day.
a6 LETTERS
aS ALUMNI NOTES
ALUMNI
PROFILES
ag Lisa Simeone (A79 ) wins a role at NPR.
PAGE
2,0
The Education
That is Parenthood
33 Heather Moore (SFoo) became a
shopaholic - for the coolest circus around.
PAGE z6
Six Johnnies whose professions
focus on children discuss the trials
and triumphs of parenting.
PAGE
35 Phil Woods (A61) combines his love of
books with his devotion to Paris.
37 STUDENT VOICES
•
2^
A transfer student trains her eye on the two
campuses.
38 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
•
•
Choral Kaleidoscope
To recreate an ancient Greek chorus, a
tutor looked to Greek pottery, Plato’s
descriptions of physical conditioning,
and accent and meter in the tragedies.
All about Senior Dinners
Election Notices
41 OBITUARIES
•
PAGE 30
Nancy Buchenauer on Robert Bart
43 alumni connections
44 ST. JOHN’S FOREVER
ON THE COVER
Aristotle: His workspervade the St. John’s
program. Illustration by David Johnson.
�2.
{From
the
Bell Towers}
Introducing
The College
In which the editor
utters heresy.
Last fall, we bid farewell to
The Reporter, which had been
the St. John’s publication for
alumni since 1974. We thought
the time had come for a new
look and a new way of present
ing information that befits the
many changes at St. John’s.
Many changes at St. John’s?!?
Heresy! Why do I write this?
The program remains intact;
McDowell Hall still stands;
today’s Johnnies still have that
head-in-the-clouds, not-distracted-by-fashion, young intellectu
al air about them; Monte Sol
still beckons for a solitary climb.
The year I graduated from
St. John’s is the year Becky Wil
son, then public relations direc
tor for the college, started The
Reporter. When I returned to
St. John’s after 20 years labor
ing in the publishing world, the
college, I found, was over
whelmingly the same. The pro
gram, after all, is still what’s
important; the words that Barr
and Buchanan used to describe
the college, and the essays in
which Jacob Klein explained the
basis of liberal education still
hold true. Yet there are differ
ences: i) The college adminis
tration is professional and the
college is on sound financial
ground. 2) The Santa Fe campus
has grown to the same size stu
dent body as Annapolis, with its
own cast of fascinating and com
mitted tutors, an array of stu
dent activities that are Johnnielike yet uniquely southwestern,
and a full complement of appro
priate buildings. 3) The stu
dents are as a whole more stu
dious, and they are better ■
qualified. Sitting in on classes
now, I find that almost everyone
has prepared, everyone can par
ticipate. (In my day, in a good
class it might have been half
The artwork on the cover is by David Johnson, who also draws
PORTRAITS FOR THE NeW YoRK TiMES BoOK ReVIEW. EvERY COVER OF
The COLLEGE'VniA. feature a writer from the program.
who had done the translation or
worked through the proof.) 4)
The tutors represent a wider
range of ages and backgrounds;
they have a variety of interests
that they are willing to share
with students. 5) Student servic
es are much improved - there is
a full-time counselor and a stu
dent activities coordinator on
staff, and a thriving athletic
program. 6) The alumni body as
a whole has gotten much larger
and much younger - more than
60% from the classes of the
1980s and after. And they have
become much more actively
involved with the college. 7) A
lot of little things, mostly physi
cal: the Woodward Hall library,
newly renovated when I was a
student, had become shabby and
overcrowded and a new library
was opened in 1996; there are
{The College-
new spaces like the Mitchell
Gallery and the Conversation
Room; the food in the dining
hall seems pretty good. I’m sure
that if I had been a student in
Santa Fe and returned there the
changes would have seemed
even more striking.
Alumni and others who care
about the college should be
aware of all this change. They
should know how vibrant,
funny, endearing, smart,
intense, and talented the cur
rent students are. They should
know how St. John’s is governed
and how decisions are made.
They should be reminded of
their shared experiences at
these two places - Santa Fe and
Annapolis - and their shared
experience that is entirely
placeless: the reading, study,
and discussion of Plato, Sopho
St. John's College ■ Spring 2001 }
cles, Descartes, Aquinas, Cer
vantes, Kant, Hegel, Austen,
and the whole gang. That’s what
this new magazine. The College,
is all about.
Although the look is new and
different to better reflect
St. John’s today, there are some
things about this magazine that
we wouldn’t want to change
from their old and trusty
Reporter format: class notes,
profiles of alumni, college news,
campus concerns. You’ve told
us that you want to read about
the program, so there will be
more stories about the books
and the curriculum itself. John
nie traditions carry on through
the decades, but since it’s
always a new set of students
playing croquet or setting up
the games at Reality, we plan on
telling you what’s happening
with those. St. John’s history is
a rich lode - through photos and
articles, we hope to connect you
with the college’s past. We hope
to hear from alumni through
letters, class notes, and article
submissions.
As the name suggests. The
College is about the one college,
St. John’s, that exists on two
campuses. News from both cam
puses will be included; students,
tutors, and alumni from both
campuses will be profiled.
Although the actual production
will be handled in Annapolis,
alumni can feel free to contact
the magazine’s staff at either
campus about The College. Let
us know what you think.
Barbara Goyette, A73
Editor
b-goyette@sjca.edu
410-295-5554
Laura Mulry, SFGI02
Santa Fe Editor
classics@maiLsjcsf.edu
505-984-6104
Sus3an Borden, A87
Assistant Editor
s-borden@sjca.edu
410-626-2538
�{From the Bell Towers}
Down in the
basement truly the weird
and creepy lair
ofCharon the storage areas
have been
emptied...
Tales from
THE Crypt
It’s not Hades, land of shades.
Although the hallways of Mellon
now look nightmarish, fit for
endless wandering with no hope
of escape, they are in fact being
stripped for a useful purpose:
the beginning of a $12.5 million
renovation. During spring
break, workers took up the
worn hall tiles, removed the
rain-stained ceilings, and
exposed crawl spaces in the
south and west wings of Mellon
(these wings contain the music
rooms, music library, and all lab
rooms). Down in the basement truly the weird and creepy lair of
Charon - the storage areas have
been emptied of their boxes of
admissions propaganda, dusty
chandeliers, broken desks, and
seminar chairs in need of new
seats and rungs. The circa 1958
heating, plumbing, and electri
cal systems are being exposed
and marveled at for their Rube
Santa Fe
Yearbook in
THE Works
The completion of the new gym
and the installment of John
Balkcom as president of the
Santa Fe campus have con
tributed to the creation of an
energetic and highly motivated
student body in Santa Fe this
year. Enthusiasm for extracur
ricular activities and attendance
at school functions is much
higher than in recent years. To
quote Brendan O’Neill (SF93)
in the Student Events Office,
“This is the most involved stu
dent body I have seen on this
campus in a long time.” To tap
this creative energy (and also to
eliminate one comparison
3
Always dingy, the hallways of Mellon look even darker now that
THEY have been TORN APART. ThE $13.5 RENOVATION WILL RESULT IN A
BRIGHTER, MORE INVITING SPACE.
Goldbergian nature. “There’s
some old machinery down there
all right,” says Sid Phipps,
superintendent of buildings and
grounds.
Plans call for new mechani
cals to be installed this summer,
and the first series of renovated
classrooms should be finished
between Annapolis and Santa
Fe) a few members of the sopho
more class decided that this
year they would create a year
book. For the past 20 years or
so the students on the Annapo
lis campus have been able to put
together an annual yearbook,
but it was not something that
happened in Santa Fe.
According to Student Activi
ties Director Mark St. John,
over the years various groups of
students have thought to put
one together but didn’t have
enough material when press
time rolled around. Then last
year’s Reality committee recom
mended to the rising sopho
mores adding a yearbook to the
list of possible fundraisers.
While the idea of a yearbook as
a fundraiser was soon deemed
impractical, the thought of cre
ating one was openly embraced.
After a month or so of planning.
{The College.
by Christmas. Work on an addi
tion with tutor offices on the
Heating Plant side of the build
ing will commence this summer.
Other phases of the project
include installing a new roof,
spiffing up the auditorium,
adding a glassed-in satellite cof
fee shop in the courtyard, and
''This is the most
involved student
body Ihave seen
on this campus
in a long time.''
Brendan O’Neill
Student Events Office
as well as meeting with the
administration and Polity to
gain their support, the year
book staff was ready to go.
Notices were posted in the
Ephemera and MoonTag adver
tising for writers, photogra
phers, and graphic designers anyone interested in joining the
fledgling staff. Not long after
ideas about theme and content
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
putting in a new art and pottery
studio, darkroom, and confer
ence room. The whole project is
due for completion in 2003.
The Hodson Trust has given
St. John’s a $4.5 million chal
lenge grant to complete the
Mellon Hall funding. The col
lege has already raised more
than $10 million for the project,
leaving less than $2 million to
be raised; the Hodson Trust will
match dollar for dollar any
donation for the Mellon Hall
renovation.
were being discussed and
assignments handed out. Sub
missions were collected,
although layout work was
delayed until the beginning of
the second semester in order to
upgrade the technological capa
bilities of the office that is being
shared with the MoonTag.
The ambitions of this first
yearbook are small. We do not
hope to rival anyone’s high
school yearbook in size,
although we certainly hope to
match, if not exceed it in quali
ty. While the yearbook has yet
to be named (a campus-wide
contest is being held to choose a
name), the theme for this year is
community. The goal of the edi
tor is to have every aspect of the
college community represented,
not just the undergraduates, so
submissions are being sought
from tutors and staff alike,
-BY Erin Hanlon, SF03
�{From the Bell Towers}
Febbie
Class to be
Discontinued
The Instruction Committee on
the Annapolis campus has rec
ommended that the January
Freshman class be discontinued
in Annapolis in five years, with
the last class enrolling in aoo6.
Called the Febbie Class because
its members originally came to
campus in February, the mid
year freshman class was con
ceived to help keep the college
at capacity by compensating for
first-semester dropouts. The ao
to 40 students began their
freshman year in January,
worked through the summer,
and joined the rest of the fresh
man class as sophomores the
following fall. Today, admis
sions to the freshman class are
at an all-time high and keeping
the class full is no longer a prob
lem. Twenty years ago, many of
the Febbies were transfers from
other colleges; today most of
those who enter in January
wanted to come in September,
but the class was already full.
“The change is made possible
by the relative financial health
of the college and by substantial
growth in the applicant pool for
the fall freshman class,” said
Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft in
explaining the decision. “The
reasons for discontinuing the
mid-year class are instruction
al...The regular freshmen get a
school year with six more weeks
of reflection and conversation
together. They also have more
time to prepare their essays, and
are less likely to suffer a change
of tutors between semesters.”
The break between the end of
the summer semester and the
beginning of the sophomore fall
semester is short, and Febbies
are often exhausted just as their
sophomore year is beginning.
Beginning in January is attrac
tive to some prospective stu
dents, for example those who
are undecided about college by
the spring of their senior year in
high school, or those who need
to earn more money before
beginning college. “Despite its
inherent disadvantages, mid-year
entrance has given many stu
dents access to the benefits of a
St. John’s education.” notes Mr.
Flaumenhaft. The Santa Fe cam
pus plans to continue to offer the
option of enrolling in January.
A Far Cry from Essay Writing
ascertain how the
web could be used to
Si. John "5 College is a co-educatiooal,
Si. lohn's was fouaded tn i6!>6 and has
keep them more
fotr-year liberal arts college known for it*
two ctutpuses, one in Annapolis,
disiinciive "greaf books" tuthMiwn.
Maiylsid. and anorher in Santa f e. New
Through <he reading of original lenis,
Mexico. The College awards both (he
involved in the col
siodeni.'i (cOeel on ibc gteai igKSlioits of
Bachelor ufArts »d Master ofAm
ihe Western iradiiion from ancient Greece
degreet. St. Julia’s has no ndijious
lege (possibilities
to nioilem tunes Siudenls study from the
affilisrion St. John's is one coHeye on two
ciassittof liierature. phiSosofil^. theology.
cam}xtsc» The campuses idiare a conunou
[«ychologs. ]»liticaf science, ectinomiCi,
cuniculuni, and siudoils may transfer
being explored
(usury, nudiemMics. laboratory sciences,
befweendsuu during the course of their
music, and the visual am
sanhes.
include chat rooms,
bulletin boards, email for life, and
password-protected
directories); and
third, a site will be
“architected” (web
people actually use
this word) and then bruit. Time
line for the project is about a
year. The initial telephone sur
veys of alumni begin this spring.
Like many small colleges,
The St. John’s College web site
St. John’s struggles with tech
is in for a facelift. The college
nology issues. On the one hand,
has hired a firm called Genera
the college needs a web site and
tion to help redevelop the sites
administrative computing sys
for the two campuses, to look at
tems that are comparable to
ways to unify the sites, to
those at other schools. On the
increase functions for alumni,
other hand, being technologi
to explore avenues for market
cally up-to-date doesn’t matter
ing the Graduate Institute
in the context of the program of
online, and to provide prospec
instruction. But even though
tive students the kind of infor
the program can function with
mation they look for on the web.
out it, the internet holds huge
Generation has lots of experi
potential for bringing alumni
Megan Miller (SFGIoi - left) and Logan Wink (SFoo - right) start
ence with higher education
together in cyberspace and for
ed BELLY dancing TWO YEARS AGO FOR EXERCISE AND FUN. “It WAS MY WAY TO
clients and will help St. John’s
increasing their involvement
GET OFF CAMPUS AND RELIEVE STRESS DURING SENIOR ESSAY WRITING,” SAYS
through a three-part process:
with the college. 4"
Wink. As the duo got more involved with the ancient Babylonian
first, the college will look at
DANCE FORM, THEY PROPOSED TO THEIR TEACHER, TaNYA KeRN (cENTER),
internal and external needs and
THAT
THEY PERFORM. ThEIR FIRST SHOW WAS AT St. JoHn’s IN SaNTA Fe AND
define audiences for its site; sec
THEY RECENTLY FINISHED A THREE-SHOW RUN AT El FaROL ON GaNYON RoAD.
ond, alumni will be contacted to
SljOtlN’SCOLLlXJ
Web News
@SJCA.EDU
{The College -
St. John’s College • Spring 2001 }
�{From the Bell Towers}
5
The Spirit of
Philanthropia
“Knowledge is power,” wrote
Francis Bacon. And knowledge
is powerful, says Amber Boydstun (SF99). Boydstun is chair
of the Spirit Committee, part of
Philanthropia - the alumni
organization dedicated to
fundraising for St. John’s.
The knowledge that Boydstun
finds powerful is the knowledge
she gained while working as a
student aide in the advance
ment office for four years.
There, she learned how the col
lege works. She learned about
college finances and fundrais
ing. And she got to know the
men and women who have dedi
cated their professional lives to
St. John’s. It made a powerful
difference when it came to her
decision to donate money to the
college.
“I’m not the kind of person
who would normally have that
team spirit, not the kind who
normally donates. But I’m going
to be donating every year and I
already have in the two years
since I graduated,” says Boyd
stun. “Why? Because I have the
facts and information that tell
me that the college does need
my help, that tuition is not
enough to pay for the education
provided to students.”
Boydstun’s plan is to share
this information with current
students, and under her leader
ship the Spirit Committee will
meet with all Johnnies at four
critical times in their college
years: during freshman orienta
tion, at the beginning of senior
year, after essay writing, and
before graduation. The idea is
that seniors are just a step away
from being alumni, and it would
be a good thing if they could
realize how important alumni
are to the college from the very
beginning. This year, there’s
been a reception for seniors at
the President’s house in Santa
Fe and a series of dinners at the
President’s house in Annapolis.
“We ask the seniors about their
experience at the college, what
they would have liked to be dif
ferent, what they thought was
particularly good,” says
Annapolis Vice President Jeff
Bishop. “They have a chance to
ask questions about the admin
istration of the college. We also
present our case to them: that
St. John’s really needs financial
support from alumni after they
graduate; that tuition only cov
ers 75% of what it costs to edu
cate each student, and that the
rest of the money to run the col
lege must come from contribu
tions. We encourage them to
stay connected to the college
after they leave. They really
seem to appreciate the informa
tion and to enjoy the evening.”
“So many people graduate
loving the great books and
thinking St. John’s as a school is
greater than anything else in
the world, but they don’t
donate. My goal is to encourage
spirit - thumos - for St. John’s as
an institution,” says Boydstun.
“I’d like to help them under
stand that St. John’s the school
they love is the same as St. John’s
the institution that needs their
help.” >
{The College
Thomas Burke
Top Ten of
THE Favorite
Five
The fundraising brochure sent
out last fall by the alumni group
Philanthropia pictured five
Johnnies in the midst of their
daily activities - with their five
favorite books from the pro
gram. The idea was to ask alum
ni to think about how the books
had permeated their conscious
ness, about how important the
St. John’s curriculum is to the
intellectual development of the
teachers, businesspeople, par
ents, artists, computer pro
grammers, and whatever else
St. John’s alumni become.
Along with their checks, many
alumni sent in responses to
the question: What are your
five favorite books from the
program?
Here’s the tally of the win
ners. Many people answered by
listing an author (Plato) rather
than a book (The Republic).
There were many books/
authors receiving one vote:
Claude Bernard’s Introduction
.St John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
(SFgz) poses in
HIS home office in
Baltimore
WITH HIS five favorite PROGRAM
books: Montaigne’s Essays,
Lucretius’ On the Nature of
Things, The Prince, Joyce’s
Ulysses, and Thucydides.
to the Study ofExperimental
Medicine; Tacitus; Hume;
Henry Adams’ History ofthe
U.S. In all, alumni named 87
different books or authors. The
top ten of the alumni’s five
favorites are:
• Plato (The Republic was
mentioned most often)
• Homer (equal numbers named
The Iliad and The Odyssey)
• Euclid
• The Bible
• Jane Austen - Shakespeare Aristotle (The Ethics was most
named) were tied
• Greek drama (Sophocles,
Euripedes, and Aeschylus)
• The Brothers Karamazov by
Dostoevsky
• Kant - War and Peace by
Tolstoy were tied
• Thucydides
• Dante
�6
{From the Bell Towers}
Off TO
Santa Fe
FOR Summer
Classics
Dante and Milton and
Eva Brann... Oh My!
Summer Classics, the program
that brings book and opera
lovers from across the country
to Santa Fe, will be held July 15
to August 4. Participants go to
seminars in the morning, spend
the afternoons on field trips and
other southwestern activities,
then attend the Santa Fe Opera
in the evenings. You can sign up
for one, two, or all three weeks
(one seminar topic per week),
and can either stay on campus
or arrange accommodation in
Santa Fe. The program is appro
priate as an introduction to the
college and also for those
who’ve done it before - alumni
and those who have participated
in community or executive sem
inars. For more information,
check the web site at www.sjcsf.
edu/classics/classic.htm, or
e-mail classics@mail.sjcsf.edu,
or call 505-984-6104.
Week I, July 15-21
• Opera: Donizetti, Lucia. Sem
inars led by William Fulton
and Elliott Zuckerman
• Chaucer, The Canterbury
Tales. Seminars led by Michael
Bybee and Caleb Thompson
• Darwin, The Voyage ofthe
Beagle. Seminars led by Mark
Rollins and Linda Wiener
• Milton, Paradise Lost. Semi
nars led by David Carl and
Claudia Honeywell
• Paul Scott, The Raj Quartet.
Seminars led by Eva Brann
and Janet Dougherty
• Thucydides, Peloponnesian
War. Seminars led by James
Carey and Matthew Davis
Week II, July 22-28
Week III, July 29-August 4
• Opera: Richard Strauss, The
Egyptian Helen and Mozart,
Mitridate. Seminars led by
William Fulton and Robert
Glick.
• Aristotle, Nichomachean
Ethics. Seminars led by Clau
dia Honeywell and George
Lane
• Dante, Purgatorio. Seminars
led by Basia Miller and Caleb
Thompson
• Dostoevsky, Demons. Semi
nars led by James Carey and
Frank Pagano
• Plato’s Critique of Rhetoric:
The Ion, Gorgias. Seminars
led by Jan Arsenault and
Elliott Zuckerman
• Shakespeare, Richard II and
Henry IV. Seminars led by
Judith Adam and Warren
Winiarski
• Shakespeare, Pericles and
Twelfth Night. Seminars led
by William Alba and Krishnan
Venkatesh
• Opera: Verdi, Ealstaffand
Alban Berg, Wozzeck. Semi
nars led by William Fulton
and Robert Glick
• Dante, Purgatorio. Seminars
led by Cary Stickney and
Susan Stickney
• Goethe, Theory of Colors.
Seminars led by George Lane
and Julie Reahard
• The Plays of Kalidasa. Semi
nars led by Michael Bybee and
Michael Wolfe
• The Poetry of Wallace
Stevens. Seminars led by
James Forkin and Thomas
Scally
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring zoot }
India is the setting for two
Summer Classics readings:
The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott
AND The Plays of Kalidasa
(Above). Two seminarswill
read Dante’s Purgatorio
(Below).
�{From
Bell Towers}
the
One College - How to
Make It Really Work
For 36 years, St. John’s struggled
with how to administer a eoUege
with two campuses that are sepa
rated hy 1800 miles, a two-hour
time difference, at least six hours
of travel time, and hundreds of
different ways of dealing with
both day-to-day and long-term
issues. The curriculum has
always been the great unifier and under the direction of the
Joint Instruction Committee
(composed of tutors on both
campuses) it has remained virtu
ally identical in Annapolis and
Santa Fe. But administration is
another matter.
Over time, tiny management
decisions on each campus led to
more substantial policy differ
ences. The Board of Visitors and
Governors, while acknowledging
the importance of a president for
each campus, last year re-organ
ized the college’s basic adminis
trative structure, creating a
Management Committee that
includes the presidents and
deans of both campuses, who
may bring in other college
officers during their discussions.
The Committee’s purview is cer
tain college-wide functions and
its single executive (a chair) han
dles comprehensive issues with
out diminishing the responsibihties of the campus presidents
and deans for their own opera
tions.
Annapolis president Christo
pher Nelson is serving as the
“We need topre
serve the special
sense ofcommu
nity that exists on
each campus,
and we will not
take any action
that would
threaten that.
Chris Nelson, Annapolis president and chair of the Management
Committee, says,“We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
{The College.
first chair of the Management
Committee. “There is a clear
spirit of cooperation,” he says.
“John Balkcom (the new presi
dent in Santa Fe) and I are com
mitted to the notion that with
respect to certain issues, col
lege-wide treatment is essential.
We need to preserve the special
sense of community that exists
on each campus, and we will not
take any action that would
threaten that.”
During its first year, the Man
agement Committee:
• Equalized tutor salaries,
which had been less in Santa
Fe since 1994-95
• Formulated a plan for equaliz
ing tuition, which had been
different on the two campuses
• Worked out a college-wide
budget, with separate consid
eration of capital projects and
other issues specific to each
campus
• Considered differences in the
financial aid policies of the
campuses and began to work on
making them more consistent
• Re-organized the advance
ment offices to prevent dupli
cating all functions on each
campus
• Adopted an information tech
nology plan for both campus
es, including a joint web site
• Provided for a joint recruit
ment strategy and new publica
tions for the Graduate Institute
• Prepared a framework for a
college-wide strategic plan
that considers needs and
resources well into the future
• Formulated a way to resolve
inconsistent alumni databases
on the campuses
• Standardized a host of report
ing functions so that college
wide information is available
on everything from budget
matters to admissions enroll
ment
During this first year the Man
agement Committee concentrat
ed on resolving differences that
had arisen over time. The com
mittee is also beginning to make
college-wide policy decisions, for
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
example; it extended benefits to
the domestic partners (same and
opposite sex) of faculty and staff.
In the coming year the Com
mittee will complete a strategic
plan and needs assessment for
the campuses, and will help
organize the elements for the
college’s next fundraising capi
tal campaign. “I anticipate
focusing on the need to have
comparable faculty staffing,
class sizes, and faculty develop
ment programs on both campus
es,” says Nelson.
St. John’s in
THE News
An article called “Where Plato
Is Your Professor” in the Febru
ary aoor issue of Smithsonian
magazine describes the col
lege’s program, the students
and classes, and the various
extracurricular activities. Also
interviewed are several alumni,
identified as a building contrac
tor, a lawyer, a biologist, and an
editorial assistant. Written by
Edwards Park, a retired Smith
sonian contributor who lives in
Annapolis, and photographed
by Cameron Davidson, the arti
cle focuses on the intellectual
atmosphere of St. John’s.
St. John’s is also featured in a
book about investing (yes, the
financial kind). Latticework:
The New Investing by Robert G.
Hagstrom (published by Texere )
describes an approach to invest
ing that is based on a liberal
arts-style understanding, where
the interconnections between
the important ideas from a num
ber of fields are discovered.
Hagstrom, who is a senior vicepresident of Legg Mason Focus
Capital, talked with alumni in
investment fields, who cited the
importance of St. John’s in their
development as “better
thinkers.” -f-
�8
{From the Bell Towers}
Leo Raditsa
The Face of SJC Today
About the freshmen who arrived in Santa Fe and Annapolis in
September and January:
There are 319 of them, 167 men and 152 women. 8 didn’t finish high
SCHOOL (they are CLASSIFIED “eARLY ENTRANCE”) AND 52 ATTENDED
ANOTHER COLLEGE BEFORE THEY BAILED OUT, SAW THE LIGHT, AND CAME TO
St. John’s. Age range is i6 to 51. About 68% receive financial aid.
223 ATTENDED PUBLIC SCHOOLS; 93 ATTENDED INDEPENDENT OR
PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 6o% RANKED IN THE TOP FIFTH OF THEIR CLASS; 4%
MeRIT HONORS.
St. John’s doesn’t require SAT scores for admission, but of those
RANKED IN THE FOURTH FIFTH. 183 RECEIVED NATIONAL
THAT submitted SCORES, THE RANGE OF THE MIDDLE 50% VERBAL IS 65O
TO 750 AND THE RANGE OF THE MIDDLE 50% MATH IS 580 TO 680. 39
STATES AND 3 FOREIGN COUNTRIES ARE REPRESENTED (HIGHEST NUMBERS
ARE 32 FROM
California in Santa Fe and 20 from Maryland in
CHRIS QUINN SFGIo
Annapolis),
Within
a few weeks, the
FRESHMEN BLENDED IN SO WELL
IT WAS HARD TO DISTINGUISH
THEM FROM MORE SEASONED
Johnnies - you
had to check
WHAT they were READING TO
FIND OUT. Students are
SHOWN ON THE AnNAPOLIS
(left) and AT Meem
Library (above).
GREG WHITESELL
quad
{The College -
Leo Raditsa, a tutor at the col
lege since 1973, died February
22 in Annapolis after suffering a
stroke. He had been ill with
myeloma.
Born in Geneva, Switzerland,
in 1936, where his father, Bog
dan Raditsa, was a delegate to
the League of Nations, Mr.
Raditsa came to this country in
1940 when his father joined the
Yugoslav Embassy in Washing
ton, D.C.
He graduated from Phillips
Exeter Academy and then from
Harvard College in 1956. At
Harvard he founded and edited
i.e.. The Cambridge Review.
The grandson of the noted Ital
ian historian Guglielmo Fer
rero, he held two graduate
degrees in history from Colum
bia University: a 1962 master’s
in medieval history and a 1969
doctorate in ancient history. He
was also a University Fellow and
a President’s Fellow at Colum
bia. In 1964-65 he held a Ful
bright Fellowship at the Univer
sity of Munich.
After teaching at New York
University, Washington Square
College, from 1965 to 1973, he
joined the faculty of St. John’s
College. He was the founding
editor of The St. John ’a Review.
He was affiliated during the
1977-78 academic year with the
Hoover Institute on War, Revo
lution and Peace at Stanford,
Calif., as a National Endowment
for the Humanities fellow.
Mr. Raditsa was the author of
numerous articles and of two
books: Prisoners ofa Dream:
The South African Mirage,
which he wrote following 1991
when he was a lecturer at the
Rand Afrikaans University and
at the University of the Witwatersrand, seoA Some Sense About
Wilhelm Reich, concerning the
controversial psychiatrist. Mr.
Raditsa was also a painter whose
watercolors were exhibited at
galleries in the Annapolis area.
Mr. Raditsa was a member of
a distinguished Italian family
St. John’s College ■ Spring soot }
Leo Raditsa
and great-grandson of the crim
inologist Cesare Lombroso; he
divided his time between
Annapohs and his family home
outside Florence. Survivors
include his son, Sebastian, and a
sister, Basiljka Raditsa, both of
New York City. His marriage to
Larissa Bonfante of New York
City ended in divorce. The fami
ly requests that gifts be made to
the St. John’s College library,
P.O. Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404.
A memorial service for Mr.
Raditsa was held in March. A
memoriam will appear in the
next issue of The College.
�9
{Alumni Voices}
CARNIVAL IN
FLANDERS
A Pearl Harbor Day memoir
BY Peter Wolff, A44
y the time I got to St. John’s in the fall of
1940, the New Program was in full swing. A
few (less than a dozen) Old Program stu
dents still remained. The college got a
boost from an article in Life magazine that
appeared in February of 1940. It spoke
glowingly of the Program in a spread of 10 or
B
I cannot resist a swipe at American
journalism: One of the pictures
showed a student reading Horace’s
poems in Latin. A fine picture
except that the student shown was
an Old Program student; the book
he was reading was by an author
(Horace) not then being read in the
Program; the book was being read
in the original Latin instead of in
translation, whereas all of the great
books authors were and are being
read in English.
I took to the college immediately
and felt that I had found my intel
lectual home. I read the books, dis
cussed them and thought of little
else. I had little money but I didn’t
need it: $a6 lasted me through the
first semester, as I barely stepped
off the campus. I cannot remember
what I did in the summer of 1941, but I
returned to St. John’s in the fall of that
year with enthusiasm and threw myself
into reading the second year list. It includ
ed Virgil, but also St. Augustine’s Confes
sions and large parts of St. Thomas
Aquinas’s Summa The.ologica.
I had joined a film club that was being
formed by a few students. It proposed to
show classic movies to those who joined
In 194a, THE COLLEGE HELD A DANCE TO
ReLIEF. In
ATTENDANCE WERE STRINGFELLOW BaRR
(left) and Admiral Beardall, Superin
tendant OF THE Naval Academy.
RAISE MONEY FOR ALLIED WaR
the club. The movies were obtained from
the Museum of Modern Art on a rental
basis. Club members were mostly St.
John’s students but also faculty members
and a few faculty from the Naval Academy.
I can only remember two films. One was A
{The College
. St. John’s College ■ Spring soot }
Nous La Liberte, directed by Jean Renoir;
the other. Carnival in Flanders, was
scheduled for the evening of December 7,
1941. The gymnasium, an old building,
had to be prepared for the film showing.
So at a little after noon, several of us were
setting up the screen and folding chairs
for the audience.
At about r:3o in the afternoon, some
one came running into the building and
12,yelled,
pages.
“The Japanese have attacked Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii.” For a little while, I did
not fully take in what had been
said; then we all abandoned our
efforts (we were nearly finished
anyhow) and repaired to our dormi
tory rooms to listen to the radio.
The film showing did take place in
the evening. Not many of the Naval
Academy members of the club
showed up; those that did for the
first time wore their uniforms.
The next day, a radio (these were
pre-television days) was brought
into the dining hall and at noon we
listened to President Roosevelt
referring to December 7 as “a day
that will live in infamy,” regretting
the many casualties that had been
incurred, and asking the Congress
to declare war on Japan.
People of my age and generation
all remember what they were doing
on December 7,1941. For younger people,
it is just another date. For some of them,
November aa, 1963 has a similar
significance, but even those who remem
ber President Kennedy’s assassination are
now growing old. What are the mythic
dates for those who are now in their twen
ties or thirties? The first moon landing?
President Nixon’s resignation? The fall of
the Berlin Wall?
�IO
{Interview}
A CONVERSATION WITH
JOHN BALKCOM
The newpresident in Santa Fe begins
his tenure Johnnie-style—in a dialogue
with students, faculty, and alumni.
N November 7 John E. Balkcom
became the fifth president of the
Santa Fe campus of St. John’s Col
lege. A fit and athletic 53-year-old
with wide interests beyond a
career as head of a college, he radi
ates an affable, energetic person
ality and addresses the complex
challenges of his new job with
cheerful confidence. He has enjoyed a close association
with the college, having been not only a graduate student
in Santa Fe but also a member the Board of Visitors and
Governors for five years. In January the president sat down
for an interview with James Idema, a Santa Fe writer whose
affection for St. John’s stems from his participation in the
Community Seminar Series.
Q: Your background is an unusual combination ofbusiness
and academics. Your education includes an AB in philoso
phyfrom Princeton, an MBA from the University of Chica
go's Graduate School ofBusiness,and a master’s degree in
liberal artsfrom St. John’s. You have also pursued a career
as a business consultant and served as an adjunctprofessor
ofeconomics at Chicago. Is itfair to say that, with this back
ground, your visionfor St. John’s ispractical as well as ide
alistic?
JB: I would hope so. Practical in the sense of my aspiring for
this program - “this brilliantly conceived small college,” to
{The College-
quote one of our tutors emeritus. Bill Darkey - to be far
more secure financially in the future, to have the ability to
deliver this distinctive kind of education, this expensive
way of doing an education, and to give that method long
economic life through significant improvements in the
endowment. This would allow us to maintain a student
body of about 450 undergraduate and about 60 graduate
students. My feeling is that we could continue to grow
somewhat in the graduate program. We have no aspiration
to make the undergraduate program 500, 600, 700, but
rather to keep it at its current size or smaller, to serve that
population well, and to continue to sustain the intimacy
that happens at the seminar level between tutors and stu
dents. I believe that the seminar table is the locus of the
unique value of this program and I want to continue to be
able to deliver that close personal attention of our tutors to
our students, both in and out of class.
Q: More to the idealisticpoint. I’ve been reading in the local
press about the kind of epiphany you experienced in which
ethics came unexpectedly into your approach to life, per
haps gaining ascendancy over the business aspect. Can you
comment on that?
JB: One of the primary responsibilities of a partner in a
management consulting firm is to sell business, to build
new client relationships and to provide services that are
both valuable to the client and profitable to the consulting
firm. It’s a rather weak joke among consultants that when
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�ERIC SWANSON
{The College -St John's College
• Spring 2001 }
�{interview}
one receives a call from a prospective
client asking the question “Do you do
X?” the answer is almost always
“Why, yes, of course. And, indeed, we
are deeply expert in that area. That’s
our business and we have just the
people who can help you.” I certainly
appreciate the commercial impera
tive of growing one’s business when
one is a management consultant, but
at times I found it troubling that I was
at least stretching the case for my
capability or my firm’s capability for
what we might do to help a client.
In particular, after reading Augus
tine’s Confessions for the first time in
the Graduate Institute, I had this
blinding realization of the three
white lies a management consultant
tells when a prospective client calls
him. “(i) I’m thrilled to hear from
you. (2) I’m utterly fascinated by your
problem. (3) I’m immediately avail
able to help you.” Out of the realiza
tion that none of the above is always true and in the process of
reading the Confessions, I began having much more candid
conversations with my clients and prospective clients, asking
them background questions and then, with increasing fre
quency, suggesting that I was not the right person to handle
their problem but giving them names and phone numbers of
others who might be better qualified to serve them.
JB: Sure. We have eliminated that
disparity as of January i, which, as a
board member, I wanted to see hap
pen during my five years of tenure.
So I’m pleased that we have now
taken the steps that were needed.
Q:
It took a long time.
It took a long time because
of differences in resources available
to the two campuses. And it put some
added pressure on this campus in
terms of balancing our budget going
forward. We’ve had several areas of
cost increases in the last two years.
First, the increase in salaries for fac
ulty. Fortunately, we’ve had generous
benefactors who have increased our
endowment to help us fund the need
ed increase in faculty salaries. Two
years ago my predecessor and his staff
did an evaluation of staff compensa
tion and found that it was off the mark
quite a bit. So we have had some
significant
staff compensation
increases as well. We’ve also changed the kind of retirement
plan for the staff to be similar to that of the faculty. Our health
insurance costs, like those of almost every other organization I
know, are rising rapidly. And then throw into that the recent
spike in natural gas prices, and our fixed costs have gone up
tremendously.
JB: It did.
Ybelieve the seminar
table is the locus ofthe
unique value ofthis
program...
Q: One might think you risked losing clients that way.
That was the risk I expected at the beginning of those con
versations, but I must tell you it brought clients back to me
repeatedly, clients who had appreciated my candor. More
important for me, my speaking that way proved to be hugely
liberating.
Now you’re no longer a consultant but the man in charge.
What are some ofthe major challenges youface in thisposition.
Can we start with the faculty salary disparities between this
campus and Annapolis?
{The College
Bad timing, indeed. But I must say, we’re still finding our
friends, alumni, and certain foundations quite generous. It’s
not an easy challenge to raise the money, but they’re continu
ing to be generous with us. Friends of the college are still com
ing to us with significant gifts. So, in that sense, our timing is
quite fortuitous.
JB:
JB;
Q:
Q: Also a weakening ofthe economy. Bad timing.
Q:
You ’re going to be able to increase the endowment?
The board and the capital campaign committee are just
beginning to plan for the next capital campaign. But my person
al aspiration is to see the endowment move from its current level
JB:
■ St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�{interview }
13
‘7found the... issues ofthe nature of
the soul [in the ' Phaedrus 7... quite
immediate and urgentfor every man
and woman in the room.
of just under $ioo million for the
whole college to something in excess
of $250 mUhon hy the end of this
decade. That’s not an easy task. It
takes a great deal ofwork. But I know
it can be done. Many other fine hberal arts colleges in a similar period
have raised significantly more than
that. I think we have the opportunity
to present this story to alumni,
friends, and foundations and corpo
rations in a way that wiU be com
pelling, to improve our endowment
substantially. That, by the way, will
help with our sustaining and improving the salaries of faculty and staff.
study area that would be more
friendly to students. Probably the
most notable physical change that a
number of us would like to see is an
auditorium that would house 600 to
800 at one time. Today we have no
single venue within which we can
convene the entire college commu
nity, meaning faculty, students, and
staff.
L
Q: Would this replace the Great
Hall?
Q: Willyou yourselfbe taking an active role infundraising?
JB: Oh, yes, I already have been. I am traveling some in con
nection with that task, and Robert Glick, the vice president for
advancement, has scheduled me for a minimum of three
lunches and two dinners a week with potential donors of vari
ous kinds in the Santa Fe area.
envision physical expansion of the campus, bricks
and-mortar improvements?
Q: Do you
JB: Yes, in a modest way. Again, we are at the maximum stu
dent size that we want, so we won’t be growing in that sense.
But I would like to add - and again, this is yet to be worked out
- another 60 rooms on campus, which would allow us to house
up to 75 to 80 percent of our student body.
Q:
That means new dormitories.
JB: Two new dormitories would be my guess.
Q: The dormitories arefilled up
now?
JB: To the brim. So that’s one physical change - a modest one, I
think. A second needed improvement: We have about $12 mil
lion of deferred maintenance on campus buildings and need
very much to upgrade the fire protection systems. Thirdly, I’d
like to see a project suggested, just as a possibility, by the head
of our bookstore of breaking the wall between the bookstore
and the coffee shop and combining them into a sitting and
{The College .
JB: I hope it would replace the Great
Hall. And it would do three impor
tant things for us: It would give us a venue for convening the
entire college community. Second, it would give us a more
attractive space for student productions of plays and musical
performances. Third, it would give us an opportunity to bring
the local community here for events of various kinds, to house
musical events and professional performances, and allow the
community to become even closer and better acquainted with
the college. So, I’d like to see that change. It might be the most
noticeable of the changes I would envision in bricks and mortar.
Q: I was going to ask whether St. John "s alumni,
as other college
alumni, are generally successful, well off, dependable support
ers ofSt. John's. Or does the St. John'sprogram tend toproduce
scholars who don’tpursue more remunerative careers?
JB: We produce alums who enter a great variety of careers,
from teaching at the secondary school level to advanced aca
demic careers in higher education to authors to producers and
directors and screenwriters for movies to proprietors of pri
vately owned businesses to heads of investment management
businesses. We have the variety of alums you would find in
many other colleges, and a wide range of economic success in
that population. It is an alumni body that has the capability of
providing great support for the college. During the last capital
campaign, we had a participation rate that was quite attrac
tive, compared to our other liberal arts competitors. On an
annual basis, the participation rate is modest, but growing
rapidly, and we expect to continue to see that grow. We have a
new organization of alumni called Philanthropia, and its pur-
St. John's College • Spring 2001 }
�^4
I { 1 NT E RVI E W }
'Tor sure, we could do a
betterjob ofreaching a more
diversepopulation.''
pose is to engage the alumni in their support
of the college. That holds great promise.
enjoy it newly every time. So, one aspect of a
great book is the re-readability. A second
aspect of “greatness” is the connectedness,
the pervasiveness, of the ideas of these texts
in our culture. When I read a new piece of
fiction that somebody says is a really great
book, I frequently find it enjoyable reading.
However, I’m not likely to read it again
because it’s not terribly re-readable. But it
may have three or four ideas in it that came
out of Plato or out of Aristotle, whose ideas
remain pervasive.
Q: In the category ofother changes and chal
lenges, what about the curriculum?
JB: My expectation is that the curriculum
will change very slowly, if at all. The way that
our founding document, the Polity, is writ
ten, it assigns to our faculty, to our joint
Instruction Committee of the two campuses,
and to the deans the responsihility for over
seeing the design and content of the curricu
lum. Our faculty retains to this day a very
strong commitment to what was called in
1937 “the New Program.”
£
I think one of the reasons people ask you
that perhaps frivolous question is that it’s
such a long time between Aristotle’s day and
today.
Q:
o
Q:
It's still the New Program?
is still the New Program. And I think
that’s a distinguishing characteristic of this college that will
change very little. It’ll he a little more of this and a little less of
that. Add a Platonic dialogue here and two fewer essays of
Montaigne there, or whatever. These things go through care
ful consideration and dehate at our faculty meetings and in our
Instruction Committee meetings. By design, they change very
slowly.
JB: It
JB: But the program comes to the 19th and
aoth centuries.We certainly talk about Kant, Hume, Hegel,
Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Yeats. And the sciences, from
Galileo to Newton all the way forward to Einstein. There are a
few Gommunity Seminars, I believe, with Richard Feynman’s
writings, in them. So we have, in some of our courses, very
contemporary authors.
Q:
“Ijust read a great
new book. Why don ’tyou include that?” That is an interesting
question, I think. What does make a great book?
Q: Surelyyou must run intopeople who say,
JB: Well, I’ve just heen re-reading the two opening essays, one
by Mortimer Adler and one by the former president of the Uni
versity of Chicago, Robert Maynard Hutchins, for the original
editions of the Great Books, as they were published by Ency
clopedia Britannica, and there are a few ideas that I found
quite intriguing. One of them is the notion that a great book is
highly re-readable. That is, it deserves to be read, not once,
and maybe not even twice or three times. Every time I read the
Iliad - and I’ve read it four or five times in the last five years I find half a dozen things that strike me as, “How could I pos
sibly have missed this?” The Iliad and the Odyssey and the
Platonic Dialogues and the works of Aristotle - there are many
others, of course, with this character.
For me, personally, I re-read the poetry of Yeats weekly and
{The College.
Notjust dead white guys.
JB: I’ve certainly heard that charge. No, I think they’re quite
alive. In my last preceptorial in the graduate program, we had
seven graduate students and six undergraduates reading
Plato’s Phaedrus. It has to do with rhetoric, with erotic love
and with the nature of the soul and with poetry. And I found
the issues of how one expresses oneself in writing or in speak
ing, the issues of the nature of the soul, the issues of the
nature of erotic love, quite immediate and urgent for every
man and woman in the room. And not at all stale by virtue of
having been written by a “dead white guy.”
Q: That naturally leads to the question ofwomen. And I know
you expressed interest in that and thefact that your wife and
daughters sometimes bug you to pay more attention to the
female gender.
Two things I should mention in that connection. In one of
my very early classes in the Summer Glassies, one of the tutors
JB:
St. John ’5 College • Spring zooi }
�{interview}
15
Y think ofthe students
as thefirst group lam
responsiblefor serving.
son we consider as a potential student is that
person’s seriousness about and capability for
studying in this particular way, reading a text
slowly and discussing it at length with col
leagues in a classroom.
put me onto the text The Book ofthe City of
Ladies by Christine de Pizan, which is quite
a remarkable story of court life in the 15th or
i6th century from a woman’s point of view.
And I’ve mentioned as well that we have had
a preceptorial in the Graduate Institute on
the work of Toni Morrison.
Q:
JB: My meetings with students are what I call
I want to ask you about the relationship
between St. John’s College and the city of
Santa Fe. Do you sense an affinity between
this comparatively new (1964) institution and
this ancient (1610) city?
Q:
JB: Yes. In the last ao years many adult learn- 2
z
ers, if I could use that phrase, have moved 5
o
into Santa Fe. These are men and women 2
cc
who may have retired or may be in the «
process of winding down their full-time pro
fessions, and who are seeking an opportunity to look with
some seriousness into matters of the quality of life and
whether or not the soul is in fact perpetual. And to examine, to
stop and lookback on what they’ve done in the last 30 or 40 or
50 years of their lives and reflect on them in a thoughtful way.
We draw many such men and women to us through our Com
munity Seminars, through our Summer Classics, even
through our Graduate Institute. So, I think that’s part of the
affinity with this town.
Q: Santa Fe has a notoriously poor public education system
itself. Many ofthesepeople you refer to arepart-time residents,
and, as you say, are retired, and they can afford to stop and
reflect on their lives. One would wish that somehow this oppor
tunity could be made available to people who have not had
thatprivilege.
Let me say that we make all of our admissions decisions at
the undergraduate and at the graduate level on a needs blind
basis. I’ve heard more than once some passing comment about
this elite program in which rich white folks come and study
the dead white guys. But approximately 70 percent of our stu
dents currently receive financial aid of one kind or another, so
we welcome a very wide variety of students. And for sure, we
could do a better job of reaching a more diverse population.
We are working on that. The biggest question about every per
JB:
Tell me aboutyour meetings with students.
“town hall meetings.” I regard the agenda as
belonging to the students.
You call the students customers, your ‘^pri
mary customers. ”
Q:
I think of them as the first group whom I
am responsible for serving. They’re here,
they are living here, they have entrusted
themselves and their education to us. I feel
responsible to them. So in that sense they are
my primary customer. And so, once every four to six weeks I
want to have a town hall meeting, invite any and all students
who would like to come, and discuss what they would like to
discuss. I don’t always have the answer, but I’m willing to take
a question and tell them I’ll get back to them.
JB:
about exhausted my question list unless you sense an
omission in what we’ve covered that you’d like to add to this
informal accounting to St. John’s alumni.
Q: I’ve
JB: My added message would be that, whereas I regard the stu
dents as my primary customers, if I can say that, I think of the
alumni as a very close second. And it’s helpful to me - I’ve
already heard from quite a number of alumni by e-mail and
have received feedback on communications I’ve sent them, on
publications we’ve put out as a college as well as articles that
have been published elsewhere about the campus.
Q:
Well received?
well received. We have listened to suggestions for
improvements, too. This is a very thoughtful alumni body and I
have a great deal to learn from them. Dialogue is the hallmark
of this school. It is vital that we continue to have a rich dialogue
with the alumni, as well as the students and faculty. 4"
JB: Very
{The College -St John’s College
■ Spring 2001 }
�{The Program}
THE LOGOS
ACCORDING TO
ARISTOTLE
Tutor Joe Sachs thinks the key to understanding Aristotle
lies in ordinary speech - whether its Greek or English.
BY Barbara Goyette, A73
o surprise: Joe Sachs, an alumnus
who graduated in 1968 and
became a tutor in Annapolis in
1975, first encountered Aristotle
in his freshman seminar, which
was led by Bob Bart and Debbie
Traynor. Slightly surprising: He
found a kind of joy in reading and
Studying Aristotle that was a deep
ening of the delight he experienced while reading Plato. His
favorite book was The Physics. “There were two things that
happened,” he says. “1 realized that what 1 thought of as sci
ence and philosophy didn’t have to be distinct. And then I
realized that the world didn’t have to be thought of the way
I’d been taught in high school. The Physics denies things I
had assumed about space, time, body, cause, and explana
tion.” Downright surprising: Sachs has spent a good part of
the past ten years translating four works of Aristotle: The
Physics, The Metaphysics, On the Soul, and The Nicomachean Ethics. The first two have been published, the oth
ers have found publishers and will appear in print soon.
Considering that Aristotle is probably the philosopher
who most permeates Western thought - from his tutelage of
Alexander the Great, to the adoption of his Latinized
vocabulary as the very speech of philosophy for hundreds of
years, to the easy acceptance of the nickname “The Big
Aristotle” by basketball’s superstar Shaquille O’Neal - why
{The College-
would there be need for more translations? Because the
translations out there are inadequate, says Sachs. The prob
lem with the translations dates to the i6th and 17th cen
turies when scholarly work that had previously been avail
able only in Latin began to appear in modern languages.
The Latin versions of Aristotle established a vocabulary
that carried over into the modern languages, a vocabulary
that included such familiar philosophic staples as “acci
dent,” “substance,” “essence,” “actuality,” and “priva
tion.” Not only did the Latinized versions of these words
become a jargon, but that jargon disguised much of what is
important in Aristotle, Sachs thinks. “The twists and turns
of the tradition that got lost from view led to mistakes and
misunderstandings of Aristotle,” he says.
Here’s an example of how the words used in the scholar
ly tradition don’t really capture the Greek: The phrase kata
sumbebekos became, in Latin translations of Aristotle,/>er
accidens, and then in scholastic English the Latin word’s
descendent, “accidental.” “The Latin is a good translation
for the Greek, and the English is cognate with the Latin,”
says Sachs. “But the original Greek meaning doesn’t come
through when you make kata sumbebekos into ‘acciden
tal.’” He renders kata sumbebekos as “incidental” rather
than “accidental.” In his Glossary to The Physics, he
explains, “The word ‘accidental’ is appropriate to some,
but not all incidental things; it is not accidental that the
housebuilder is a flute player, but it is incidental. To any
St. John's College • Spring 2001 }
�{The College -St John’s
College ■ Spring 2001 }
�{ThePkogram}
''LikePlato 's dialogues, Aristotle's
writings lead us onfrom untested opinions
- those expressed in ordinary speech toward more reliable ones. "
thing, an infinity of incidental attributes belongs, and this
opens the door to chance (196 b).”
Nineteenth and aoth century English translations of Aristo
tle include those found in the Loeb editions and in the huge
beige McKeon edition that Johnnies of the 1970s and 1980s
relied on. Loeb translations are loose by design. McKeon’s edi
tion contained parts of a series of Oxford translations made
early in the aoth century. Some were very graceful, but they
relied entirely on the Latinized vocabulary carried over from
the earlier translations. Beginning in the 1960s, Hippocrates
Apostle produced a set of translations that attempted to stan
dardize Aristotle’s vocabulary in English - Apostle always used
the same English word for each Greek term, but he still relied
on the adopted Latinized words. During the course of many
years’ worth of classes, study groups, and advising sessions,
Sachs found himself having to say to students “it doesn’t really
mean that” about many of the words they were wrestling with.
He would give long explanations of each such word, and wish
there were some better way to translate it.
Behind Sachs’ resolve to try to render Aristotle into English
more effectively lies a deeper reason than being discontent with
the use of the fossilized Latin vocabulary. Aristotle looks at
ordinary speech and the thought behind it, and he “puts
together the most ordinary words in unaccustomed combina
tions. Since the combinations are jarring, our thinking always
has to be at work,” says Sachs. Here’s the paradox of Aristotle
for us today: He’s at the same time the most referred-to thinker
whose ideas form the very foundation of all Western philoso
phy, from Locke, Kant and Hegel to Whitehead and Husserl,
and yet - according to Sachs - he’s the freshest because he
makes us examine the most simple assumptions about our lives
and what they might mean. Getting to the root of this fresh
quality of Aristotle’s work was Sachs’ aim in translating the the
oretical books with the resources of “ordinary English.”
Gertainly this is an enterprise characteristic of how the
Greeks are treated at St. John’s. “[Jacob] BClein is the main
source of my thinking about Aristotle and Plato,” notes Sachs.
He cites Klein’s essay “Aristotle, an Introduction” (which
appears in Jacob Klein: Lectures and Essays, St. John’s College
Press) as something he’s read many times. But Sachs calls his
translations an appropriate entry point for any educated reader
- not just Johnnies - into the world of the ancients.
{The College
Turning The PHYSICS wyg English
rom 1990 to 1992, Sachs held the National Endow
ment for the Humanities (NEH) chair at the col
lege. This fellowship enables tutors to spend their
time studying a topic in depth for two years; dur
ing the second year they also lead a faculty study
group on their topic and give a lecture. He used the tim
begin a translation of The Physics. “At first I didn’t know
was practical - whether I knew enough Greek, whether there
were solutions to the difficult problems I saw,” he says. But he
began to work with the aim of making Aristotle’s sentences
real by getting rid of the jargon and using instead everyday,
common words that exist in both English and Greek.
“Aristotle respects ordinary speech more than most modern
philosophers do. We use a lot of important words in inconsis
tent ways. For Aristotle that is an indication of something
deeply true,” explains Sachs. For example, take the Greek
word kalon. Sometimes it is translated as “beautiful,” some
times as “noble.” But the English word “noble” loses most of
the vividness and power of the Greek. Aristotle considers the
linguistic usage as a clue that leads to an understanding of
moral virtue as something for its own sake, that hits a mean. In
English we might also say, “That’s a beautiful thing you did.”
We all know what that means, and it somehow tells us some
thing about that action. “Ambiguities in speech that are deeply
revealing about the thing referred to can arise in similar ways
in more than one language,” says Sachs.
“The trouble with ordinary speech for the purposes of phi
losophy,” says Sachs, “is that it carries too much meaning. We
are so accustomed to its use that it automatically carries along
all sorts of assumptions about things that we make without
being aware of them. ..Like Plato’s dialogues, Aristotle’s writ
ings lead us on from untested opinions - those expressed in
ordinary speech - toward more reliable ones.”
Getting something out of The Physics depends on how will
ing people are to let go of their assumptions. “It’s full of things
that people laugh at when they encounter them - take his
notion that bodies falling in a void would speed up without
limit. But reading Aristotle is a way of getting back to the ques
tions. Sometimes to get that fresh look you have to uproot
things that stand in your way. The Physics has everything to do
with living in the world.”
F
St John’s College • Spring 2001 }
�{TheProgram}
19
''The argument is on the way
somewhere and things are changing.
Things get revised.
Progress on the translation was sometimes slow - a sentence
in a day - and sometimes faster. Sachs found that he couldn’t
leave a decision half-made. “So many things that I hadn’t paid
attention to turned out to he very interesting and important,”
he says. But at the end of the second year he had a draft. Find
ing a publisher was a real-world challenge. His translation
wasn’t favored hy the classicists because “it wasn’t good Enghsh,” meaning that it read like philosophy instead of litera
ture. The philosophy departments, on the other hand, didn’t
like Sachs’ translation because it wasn’t consistent with the
other works in the tradition - no “substance,” “essence,”
“accident,” etc. Sachs wound up using Rutgers University
Press, and his Physics appeared in 1998 as part of their “Mas
terworks of Discovery: Guided Studies of Great Texts in Sci
ence” edited by Annapolis tutor Harvey Flaumenhaft.
been obscured by technical jargon the same way they had been
in the theoretical works. But there were enough ways that I
thought those translations fell short that I decided to try doing
my own,” says Sachs. All of the books reflect the basic aims of
recapturing the original focus of Aristotle’s thinking.
What’s Aristotle Doing?
hat has Sachs learned about Aristotle
after spending so much time with him?
Not a few St. John’s students and alumni
have trouble reading Aristotle because of
his style - it’s so densely packed, the sen
tences are opaque, and it lacks the drama of the dia
step-by-step explications of Kant, or the perverse
Nietzsche. Sachs doesn’t exactly buy the commonly accepted
story that Aristotle’s writings are transcriptions of lecture
The Other Translations
notes. “I think they may have begun as lecture notes, but they
he year following his second spent holding the
got written down and polished,” he says. He compares the
method to that described frequently in Plato’s dialogues, when
NEH chair, Sachs had a sabbatical, which he used
a character says “I heard this from so and so, and then I wrote
to begin working on a translation of The Meta
it down and checked it with the source.”
physics. That book was published in 1999 by Green
“I think you can feel the movement in the classroom,” says
Lion Press, an independent pubhshing house con
Sachsofabout the writings. “An objection outlined is something
centrating on primary texts in the history of science, history
someone brought up in one of the classes. Or there might be a
mathematics, and history of ideas and run by St. John’s alumni
joke about the educated person being pale - that would refer to
Wdham Donahue (A67) and Dana Densmore (A65).
someone in the room. A lot of the things we puzzle about would
Even more than The Physics, The Metaphysics has been mis
have
been obvious to Aristotle’s hsteners.” The movement of
understood, thinks Sachs. It’s commonly criticized as not
the
arguments
is dialectical - that’s the structure that prevails
being cohesive, because it appears to make new beginnings
in The Physics, The Metaphysics, and even in The Ethics. “The
over and over again, as well as covering the same ground
argument is on the way somewhere and things are changing.
repeatedly. Sachs found an underlying order as he worked
Things get revised,” says Sachs. This flowing structure to the
through the translation; rather than becoming so enmeshed in
works is another reason the accepted notion of Aristotle laying
details that a sense of the whole is obscured, the opposite hap
down the law or offering a series of set answers is so wrong.
pened - he came to a clearer understanding of the differences
“Instead, I find it a record of careful thinking,” says Sachs.
between demonstration and dialectic.
Aristotle’s record of careful thinking is something that has
At the urging of tutor Brother Robert, Sachs also translated
kept
Sachs busy translating for about ro years. Although he
On the Soul over the course of a few summers; it’s currently
says the efforts never turned into a chore, he’s finished with
being prepared for publication by Green Lion. And, during a
translating, at least translating Aristotle and at least for now.
second sabbatical, almost 10 years after working on The
But the thoughts are still alive for him: “Every time I pick up
Physics, he translated The Nicomachean Ethics. That transla
one of his books or sit down with people to talk about Aristo
tion is being prepared by The Focus Philosophical Library in
tle, I find new things.”
Massachusetts.
“The Ethics is a book that I love. The translations seemed
good enough because the things Aristotle was saying had not
W
T
{The College -St John's College
• Spring 2001 }
�{Johnnies
on
Parenting}
THE EDUCATION THAT IS
PARENTHOOD
From birth to the empty nest, raising a child
means learning to deal with each new challenge.
BY Sus3AN Borden, A87
OR ALL WE LEARN FROM THE GREAT ROOKS,
they don’t seem to answer parent
hood’s most pressing questions: What
did Penelope do to make Telemachos
sleep through the night? Would
attachment parenting have saved
Oedipus? If Desdemona and Juliet had
been allowed to try “group dating,”
could tragedy have been averted? Pedi
atric rheumatologist Jim Jarvis (A75) agrees that there are
limits to the insights on parenting to be gained at St.
John’s. “Will studying Apollonius make you a better par
ent?” he asks. “I don’t think so.”
He suggests more intimate sources for learning how to
raise children. “You learn from your parents, you learn
from your children, and you learn from your heart, if you
leave your heart open and attentive to all the wonderful
things your child is trying to teach you,” he says. And that,
he explains, is where St. John’s comes in.
“St. John’s prepares your heart to be open,” he says. “I
remember tutors Michael Littleton and Elliott Zuckerman
teaching me that it’s okay to love something because it’s
beautiful. I remember seeing the look on Michael Little
ton’s face when he was listening to Beethoven’s Eroica Sym
phony. I realized that I was watching not only a man who
found this piece of music intellectually satisfying hut who,
in the very core of his heart, found it beautiful. If you let it,
your St. John’s education can prepare your heart for accept
ing the incredible beauty and mystery of childhood.”
Granted, Piaget and Montessori are not on the St. John’s
reading list. And there’s no manual for raising children that
{The College-
provides an answer for every troubling situation. But in this
inaugural issue of The College, six alumni who work with
parents and children offer their insights into the education
that is parenthood.
I•Convocation
Birth
Parenting studies - like college studies - begin with a sud
den immersion into a completely different kind of life. Eor
both experiences, it’s a change you’ve been waiting for for
months, mainly with excitement, but also with anxiety. You
pack your bag, climb into the car, and the adventure
begins. One key difference: when you’re heading for col
lege, it’s just butterflies in your stomach. One similarity:
you’re beginning a new life with a journey into the
unknown.
Midwife Laureen Sutton-Borgilt (SP86) says that,
because she works mainly with home births, the couples
she works with have a high sense of responsibility. But, she
says, taking responsibility can be confused with taking con
trol, and when it comes to childbirth, control is an illusion.
“One of the biggest jobs in preparing for birth is accepting
what it means to deal with uncertainty. You don’t always get
to choose how things are going to come out. You can
choose the little things, like to stay home or to have the
baby in water, hut birth doesn’t always give you your
choice. Parenting doesn’t always give you your choice
either,” says Sutton-Borgilt. “Parenting plunges us into an
unknown over which there is no control and pregnancy is
definitely a first step into this realm of the unknown.”
St. John’s College • Spring 2001 }
�ai
their own temperaments, their
own way of dealing with the
First year oflife
“God Creating Adam”
world,” she says. “The best a
FROM Chartres Cathedral
parent can do is help them learn how to
Sure you studied virtue at St. John’s,
make good judgments and accept
but these days you’re modeling good
themselves with whatever limitations
behavior at home. Of course you read
and strengths they have.”
about beauty during college, but par
Friehling offers a Johnnie-like
enthood leaves you marveling at your
approach to child-raising: “Just like
baby’s perfect features. And while love
tutors are not professors but are there
was once a subject for discussion and
to guide students in dialogue, I see par
contemplation, it’s now something
ents as guiding their children in a dia
that overtakes you every day. Like
logue. From the time the child is six
freshman year, early parenthood fasci
months old, parents should set up a dia
nates us with its subject matter. But
logue
to help the child figure out this
there’s a lot to learn and a world of
world on his or her own. By the time
adjustments to make.
Jim Jarvis [A75]
they are adolescents, children are very
“There’s no bigger transition in the
much participants in the dialogue and
world than becoming a parent,” says
they
don’t have the same kind of rebel
pediatrician Melissa Sedlis (A73). “No
lion issues as children whose parents set themselves up as
matter how old you are, you’re just someone else’s child
arbitrary authorities.”
until you become a parent yourself. There’s a great divide
II- Freshman Year
J.
''Ifyou let it, your
St. Johns education
can prepare your heart
for accepting the
incredible beauty and
mystery ofchildhood. ”
you cross.
“Everyone has watched a child misbehave, seen how the
parent handles it, and thought, ‘I’ll do it so much better. My
child will never go to McDonald’s. My child will never want
sugar cereals.’ There are a lot of illusions that parents have
to lose. What we often have in our minds during pregnancy
is an idealized version of what our child will be like. We try
to fit the child into our idea of what the child should be.”
Pediatrician Linda Friehling (SF71) warns parents not to
impose such ideas onto their children. “Children have
{The College-
III-Sophomore Year
Toddler andpreschool years
More than any other year, sophomore year seems to focus
on a single book: the Bible. Parents of toddlers and
preschoolers, their faith tested by temper tantrums and toi
let training, can find themselves haunting bookstores’ par
enting sections, praying for a divinely inspired source of
wisdom. Some find a favorite - a parenting “Bible.” Among
St. John's College - Spring 2001 }
�2,2,
{JoHNNiES
ON
Parenting}
‘7sometimes have to remind
parents that the ape at which you
first eat preen beans is not on the
applicationfor Harvard. ”
Melissa Sedlis [A73]
today’s most popular are T.
means and interest to support
Berry Brazleton’s Touchpoints,
good daycare.”
Penelope Leach’s Your Baby
But what about intellectual
and Child, Arlene Eisenberg’s
enrichment? Wouldn’t a top
What to Expect the Toddler
notch daycare offer children a
Years, and Dr, Spock’s Baby and
head start in the academic
Child Care.
world? Berkowitz doesn’t think
Steve Berkowitz (A8i), associ
so. “You can get your kid to read
ate professor in child and adoles
earlier, to know the capitals ear
cent psychiatry at Yale Medical
lier, to do math earlier, but what
School, says he likes some, but
has been demonstrated is that it
not all, of these works. “Throw
all evens out in the end,” he says.
Brazleton out the window,” he
“The important factors in pre
says. “He’s a nice guy but all too
school are the social and nurtur
easy.” Berkowitz says that Bra
ing elements. While formalized,
zleton’s “let it happen natural
rigid education in reading, writ
ly” approach is too hands-off for
ing, and arithmetic is becoming
most parents and children. “For
more popular, this might be at
instance, toilet training,” says
the cost of something very
Berkowitz. “I don’t think you
important to children: the use of
just sit there and tell a kid ‘you
their imaginations, working
can potty train whenever you’re
things through, and learning
ready.’ I don’t think you have to
and understanding through play
demand it when they’re i8
and imagination.”
months old, but at 3 years, when
Sedlis says that this rush to
they’re not potty trained, you
academics is particularly a prob
An icon of parental affection - a madonna and child
can say ‘we want this, you have
lem in New York City, where she
to do it, it’s what kids your age
lives and practices. “Children
do.’” Berkowitz thinks parents should be more directive than
begin to apply to nursery schools at the age of one or two. They
Brazleton advises. “I don’t think young children want a mil
go on a round of interviews and many of them get rejected.
lion choices,” he says. “They want comfort, nurturing, direc
There’s enormous anxiety over this and parents beheve if you
tion. They wantyou to make choices for them. That’s what par
don’t get into the right nursery school, you won’t get into the
ents do.”
right ongoing school, then the right college, and then the right
While he’s not so crazy about Brazleton, Berkowitz does like
job. I sometimes have to remind parents that the age at which
Penelope Leach. “I think she’s great and has a lot to offer,” he
you first eat green beans is not on the application for Harvard.”
says. “Like anybody else, there are things I disagree with her
about, like her strong stance against daycare. Studies show
IV • Enabling
that good daycare is very good for children, there’s just very
Are youfit to continue?
little of it.”
What is good daycare? Berkowitz points to the daycare cen
It’s the end of your sophomore year. You go to your mailbox
ters affiliated with Yale. “Theyhaveverylowchild/staffratios,
and find a letter from the dean. You’re either in or out. But as
highly trained staff who are well paid and have the benefits of
a parent, it’s not that simple. There are many points in a
being in an academic environment, and parents who have the
child’s life when you find yourself scrutinizing your perform{The College
- St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�{JoHNNIESOnPaRENTING}
2,3
JOHNNIES RECOMMEND...
great books on parenting
Touchpoints: Your Child’s Emotional and Behav
ioral DevelopmentYyY. Berry Brazleton
Toddlers and Parents: A Declaration ofIndepen
dence by T. Berry Brazleton
Infants and Mothers: Differences in Development by
T. Berry Brazleton
The First Twelve Months ofLife by Frank Caplan
ance, uncertain if you’re really
V • Junior Year
and Theresa Caplan
qualified to proceed. And like tutors
Elementary school
How To Talk So Your Child Will Listen, and Listen
at an enabling meeting, there are
So Your Child Will Talk by Adele Faber
plenty of people who seem ready
During junior year, you read Hume
and willing to judge your fitness as a
and Rousseau. As the parent of a
The Magic Years by Selma H. Fraiberg
parent. Certainly you can ignore
schoolage child, a visit to the play
First Feelings: Milestones in the Emotional Develop
onlookers at the grocery store when
ground
reminds you that life can
ment of Your Baby and Child by Stanley Greenspan
your child is having a tantrum. But
still be nasty, brutish, and short.
The Course ofLife by Stanley Greenspan
what about your mother, your
The temptation to tighten control
spouse, your adolescent who
is strong as your child learns to
Your Baby and Child: From Birth to Age Five by
screams “I hate you,” your in-laws,
Penelope Leach
negotiate the social contracts of the
or your child’s pediatrician or
school yard, soccer team, and
Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn
teacher?
scouts. But even as the outside
The Emotional Life ofthe Toddler by Alicia F.
When daycare director Karen
world claims more and more ofyour
Lieberman
Shavin’s (Aya) son was diagnosed
child’s time and interest, the
The Interpersonal World ofthe Infant: A Viewfrom
with a learning disorder at age
experts agree: it’s time to loosen
Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology by
three, she was devastated by his
your grip. “Most of my peers from
Daniel N. Stern
prognosis. “They told me he would
St. John’s will remember that I’m a
never go to college and never have
rabid baseball fan,” says Jarvis.
. The Toddler Years: A Practical Guidefor
Parents & Caregivers by Irene Van De Zande
friends. And they said that all his
“And yet I know that my son’s
problems were related to an overfavorite sport is not baseball. He’s a
protective mother.”
good player, but he’s not as excited
Shavin says that, being in the child development field her
as he is about soccer. One of my most important jobs as a par
self, she tried to follow the advice of the experts she periodi
ent is to share his excitement about soccer and not push base
cally consulted. However, she saw that even professionals
ball on him. “When we lived back east we saw parents trying to
don’t agree and noticed they can fall into the trap of giving
live vicariously through their children through their academ
one-sided advice, influenced more by their training than by
ic and artistic endeavors. In Oklahoma, it’s through football
the needs of the child. “I needed to hear the experts’ recom
and cheerleading. I call it child abuse by sports.”
mendations,” she says. “But then I needed to analyze what
“Some parents wrongly view their children’s accomplish
they said to see if their method really applied to my child’s
ments as their own,” says Friehling. “That’s where distance
needs.” Shavin recommends that parents in similar situations
becomes necessary. You’re there as an enabler. You can nei
learn as much as they can from professionals, but then think
ther reap the accolades nor accept the blame for what happens
about what they know about their child and be willing to do
to your children as they move through school. There’s a differ
what the child needs, regardless of anyone’s advice.
ence between encouraging and pushing.”
This approach worked well for her son, who has made great
progress despite a significant auditory processing disability.
VI- Senior Year
“He’s 18 now, just finished his first semester of college, got all
Adolescence
As, and has a steady girlfriend,” she reports. “When he makes
friends, they’re friends for life.”
It’s not unusual to be intimidated by senior seminar readings.
What is this phenomenology, this theory of parallels, this
Beaute that Baudelaire seems so taken with? Fortunately, a
second reading and some careful reflection often reveal that
{The College
St John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�“4
{JohnniesonParenting}
''The adolescent is like Socrates,
asking the tough questions, forcing
parents to examine themselves and
how they ve lived their lives.
Linda Friehling
{SF71)
these are the questions of freshman,
VII "Graduation
sophomore, and junior years dressed
Empty nest
up in fancy clothes. So too with adoles
cence.
Like commencement, the empty nest is
“Parents of adolescents constantly
both a beginning and an end. “It’s won
pull their hair out, forgetting that they
derful and painful, letting go,” says
are struggling with the same issues
Friehling. “When my first child was in
with their children at 14 as they were
the middle of college I was cleaning out
with their children at 3,” says
a room in the basement where a lot of
Berkowitz. “The difference is that you
the toys were. I kept going up to him
can’t pick up a 14-year-old and say no.”
and saying, ‘Mattie, do you want this
Parents can find themselves regret
any more? What about this? Is this
ting this difference when it comes to
important to you?’ He was very gentle,
issues like sex. “Sexuality exists from
but finally he said, ‘Mom, do you think
very early on, but adolescents are actu
I’m going to play with any of my toys
ally able to do something about it that
again?’ I had a tear in my eye because I
they couldn’t do when they were 3,”
realized no, I suppose he’s not.”
Berkowitz says. He adds that this is
Friehling says that, while the vision
more troubling to parents of girls. “It’s
of a grown child can provoke tears, it
an issue of biology. Boys don’t get
can also bring joy to a parent: “Ifyou let
pregnant.”
Sibling interaction depicted by Rembrandt
yourself enjoy each phase, you can look
In her practice, Sedlis offers adoles
back at it with pleasure.”
cents a safe place to talk about sex,
drugs, and alcohol. And she gives them at least one important
Steve Berkowitz (A81) is an assistantprofessor in child and adoles
piece of information. “With older teenagers. I’ll say, ‘have you
cent psychiatry at Yale University's School ofMedicine as wed. as the
medical director of the New Haven Child Development-Community
ever heard of the morning after pill?’ They look at me like I
Policing
Program and the Yale Child Study Center Intensive Home
have two heads,” she says. “But every four to six months, a girl
based
Child
and Adolescent Psychiatric Services. He is also thepsychi
will come to me for this, a girl you would think of as a good
atric consultant to the National Centerfor Children Exposed to Vio
girl, who is a good girl, who has made a mistake.” While Sedlis
lence. He is thefather oftwo daughters.
encourages teens in such difficult situations to leave the hnes
Linda Friehling (SF71) is a pediatrician and the mother ofthree sons.
of communication with their parents open, she says that there
She lives in Great Falls, Virginia.
are some thing a child needs to keep private.
liM Jarvis {A75) is director ofpediatric rheumatology at the Children’s
Fortunately, the world of teenagers isn’t all about risky
Hospital of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, and a clinical associate pro
behaviors. Friehling is energized by the intellectual and moral
fessor ofpediatrics at the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Cen
challenges teens constantly pose. “Adolescents are wonderful
ter. He is thefather oftwo daughters and one son.
because they are thinking, idealistic, and energetic. They keep
Melissa Sedlis (A73) is a pediatrician in private practice in New York
you on your toes and don’t take any nonsense,” she says. “The
City. She and her husband, Steven Sedlis (A7;j), have three daughters.
adolescent is hke Socrates, asking the tough questions, forc
Karen Shavin (A73) is the executive director ofBright Beginnings, an
ing parents to examine themselves and how they’ve lived their
infant-toddler and preschool Head Start program for homeless chil
lives. You have to back up what you say and give reasonable
dren in Washington, D.C. She and her husband, Jeff Crabtree (A72),
arguments. They’re not going to take things at face value;
are theparents ofone daughter and two sons.
they’re going to question everything.”
Laureen Sutton-Borgilt (SF86) is a midwife and the mother of two
daughters. She lives in Ashland, Oregon.
{The College -
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�as
{Campus Life}
CHORAL
KALEIDOSCOPE
BY SuS3AN Borden, A87
he Great Hall of McDowell has seen many Odysseus,” says David. “When they have
finished their performance with Demodsights in the past 200 years: the schooling of ocus of the tale of Ares and Aphrodite,
Francis Scott Key in 1796, a hall honoring Gen two youths are singled out to make a solo
display of their gymnastic prowess, throw
eral Lafayette in 1824, and the treatment of ing and catching a ball in mid-air.”
Following Plato’s formulation, David’s
Civil War casualties in 1863 and 1864. In recent
group began with a bardic rendition of the
years, it has been the site of college registra opening of Homer’s Catalogue of Ships
with the singer in the middle (like
tion, Fehhie convocation, and G.I. commencement.
It has
Demodocus) circled by dancers. Then two
of the students,
hosted coffee houses, rock parties, and waltz parties.
PlaysJohann du Hoffman (A04)
and Danae Marshall (A03), performed a
have been staged and freshman choruses have sung within its
carefully choreographed gymnastic dance.
Next, Sarah Frost (A04) gave a solo per
walls. And one chilly afternoon this past February, it was the
formance of a short Sappho poem, and
setting for a spectacle rich and strange.
finally the group presented a full choral
T
Drawing inspiration from the figures on
GrEEKVASES, AmIRTHANAYHGAM
David (center, left photo) leads stu
ANCIENT
dents IN A recreation OF A CHORAL DANCE.
Annapolis tutor Amirthanayagam David
(A86) and Miriam Rother, a choreographer
from Switzerland (and mother of sopho
more Noam Gedalof), led eleven students
in a two-week workshop reconstructing a
Greek chorus. When the group presented a
“workshop-performance” in the Great
Hah, about 150 students and tutors showed
up to watch.
David explained that the first part of
their presentation was a reconstruction of
a gymnastics lesson described by Plato in
the Laws. “It is likely not a coincidence
that the two types of dancing Plato pre
scribes, one imitating the language of the
Muse, the other more gymnastic and ath
letic, correspond to the two types Alcinous has his Phaeacian youths display for
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
rendition of the “Ode to Man” from
Antigone. A key to the reconstruction was
David’s theory of Greek prosody, which
allowed the dancers to know where to
stress their words.
Since the main floor of the Great HaU
was packed, many onlookers saw the per
formance from the second floor balcony.
From on high, the movement of the
dancers looked like the jewels in a kaleido
scope moving through a set of comphcated
but orderly symmetrical patterns.
�2,6
{Letters}
Editor 's Note: Thanks to those who wrote
in with information about thephotos in
the calendar. We were hoping that thepho
tos would elicit memories and waitedfor
the e-mails and letters to come in telling us
who waspictured in each shot. We weren i
sure about the date ofthe staircasephoto
(hence the ''ca. uj7O ”). But we are sure
about thephotographer because his name
is stamped on the back ofthephoto: Mari
on Warren, an Annapolis artist who took
manyphotos ofthe college—on both cam
puses—from the late tgsos through the
mid-iQ’^os.
E-Zine Proposal
Photo Recollections
For the record, the picture accompanying
the month of March in the aooi
“Founders & Foundations” calendar is
Brother Robert’s freshman (not sopho
more) geometry class in the fall of 1973.
Since we aren’t wearing heavy jackets (and
Lauren has her shoes off) it must be early
in the semester and we’re all sweating.
Sweating because we’ve each been given a
proposition to demonstrate; judging by
the models on the table we’re proving the
existence of the regular solids. I had to
prove the existence of the cube. Sara
Anastaplo did the dodecahedron (better
her than me) That’s Leslie Combiner at
the blackboard. Clockwise from Leslie are
Carolyn Wade, Sara Anastaplo, Paul
Rneisl, Janis Popowitz, Louis Eckler, Jean
Murdock, Lauren Ballard, Brother Robert,
Michael Levine, Eric Salem, Charlie Bor
ders, Rick Smith (I think) and Elizibeth
Hennessy. I seem to remember Ann
Browning and Pam Lobdell in this class
also. Once I hit Pam in the face with a
snowball thrown from the fire escape right
next to this room (three stories up...do the
physics) and she didn’t cry even though
she wanted to. Don’t think I’ve forgotten
that I owe you, Pam!
me an impression he had about the photograph on the back cover. John and I con
curred that the picture of six students sit
ting on the stairs is not from 1970, but
from 1965-66. The students are from the
Santa Fe class of 1969, in order, clock
wise, beginning on the left: Robert
Rosenwald, Karen Jurgensen (feet),
Helen Smith (with cigarette in hand), Jim
Pipes (next to the rail), Ted Propeck (at
the bottom of the picture), and Jim Walk
er (in the center). My hunch is the photo
was taken by Carl Bostek, SF68, who took
a number of pictures around campus dur
ing that period.
If someone out there has a different
“perspective” I would certainly welcome
correction. But, as John noted, some
shoes you never forget!
— JoE Reynolds, SF69
As profound as most of the content of The
Reporter may be, isn’t it about time to
move away from consuming the natural
resources of our planet, i.e. trees, for the
manufacture of paper, and energy to print
and to disseminate it by mail? Isn’t it time
to put The Reporter on-line and distribute
it as an E-zine?
At the very least, let alumni choose the
printed version or the web version. If
some tidbit inspired by divine madness
tickles the fancy of an E-alum, he or she
can print it, or save it on a diskette. There
needn’t be concern over losing E-articles.
If a magnetic pulse occurs in the manner
in which is predicted, there will be neither
college nor alumni left to lament the loss.
— William Malloy, SF77
Editor’s Note: Currently weput the Class
Notes—the mostpopularfeature—from
The Reporter (and nowfrom The College)
on the St. John’s web site (www. sjca. edu click on “Alumni”). Weplan to include
articles, letters,
and other sections
p/The College on
the redeveloped
St. John’s web site
in thefuture.
— Paul Kneisl, A76
Two
PHOTOS FROM
“Founders &
Foundations” cal
THE
I enjoyed receiving the new “Founders &
Foundations” calendar, poring over the
pictures, and reliving memories. Regard
ing memories, I had dinner with John
Strange (SF69) and his wife, Carol, recent
ly. John pulled out the calendar to run by
endar INSPIRED rec
ollections; THE
FRESHMAN MATH
CLASS (above) AND
THE STAIRWELL
STUDY GROUP (lEFt).
{The College.
St. John ’5 College ■ Spring soot }
�{Letters}
Seminar Dynamics
To the tutors - Consider whether this is a
fair description of what happens in semi
nar: Jane is making a point. The instant
her mouth shuts, John launches in on his
own topic. Or he may not even wait for
Jane to stop, or he may have to drown out
several others who are equally ready to
jump in. John makes his point, and the
instant he stops, somebody else jumps in
without the slightest pause. In my experi
ence, this was how it went two nights a
week for four years. But in order to be
ready to start talking as soon as Jane
stopped, John must have ceased listening
to Jane and begun formulating his answer
long before she was finished. Some or
most of what Jane said, John didn’t hear,
because he was busy composing his own
speech. The result is not a discussion, but
a series of monologues. The opening
question is a jumping-off point, and for
gotten by 8:05. Those students who plan
their own speeches instead of listening
are rewarded with air time; those unfortu
nates who can’t help listening and trying
to understand what’s being said never get
a word in.
Yes, I was one of those. But I’m not
writing to complain. I love St. John’s.
A lot of the best of what I am I got at
St. John’s. Even the seminar was valuable
to me, although I wasn’t very valuable to it.
I got a lot of good thinking done in there.
I’m writing to talk about teaching lis
tening. When I was a student I heard that
the tutors keep to the background in sem
inar because their job is not to teach what
the books say, but to help students find it
for themselves. But because you’re not in
seminar to teach the correct interpreta
tion of the book doesn’t mean you’re not
there to teach. In the seminar setting, you
are in the perfect position to teach hstening - an important part of learning,
maybe the most important. Imagine this
alternate scenario: John gets halfway
through his speech and you, the tutor,
interrupt: “John, how does this relate to
Jane’s point? Are you agreeing or dis
agreeing?” With a few such words inter
jected, you would completely change the
nature of the seminar. If you were to con
sistently enforce relevance, the students
would have no choice but to listen before
talking. We would be in a real discussion.
We would be forced to take each other
seriously, to really come to grips with the
fine points of what the other person is try
ing to say. After two hours of that careful
listening, two nights a week for four years,
we would graduate with a life skill as
important as anything the college can
give. And on the way we probably would
learn a lot more about the books.
— Jack Armstrong, A83
In Defense of a Telescope Maker
I find Duncan North’s expressed disdain
for “pansy philosophers” and telescope
makers shocking. Although Galileo was
not mentioned by name in the article
“The Tao of Duncan” [The Reporter,
Fall/Winter aooo), he was clearly implied
by Mr. North’s reference to telescope
makers. How can anyone say Galileo did
not live his philosophy! For goodness’
sake, he stood trial before the Inquisition
for it! For what? For believing that reveal
ing the truths about the natural world
could only benefit mankind and give
greater glory to God. Galileo walked a
precarious line, balancing on one side his
incredible insight and vision, and on the
other the salvation of his soul. Although
the Church at the time felt that he lost his
balance in favor of his own vision, Galileo
maintained his innocence until his death,
denying that he had violated the tenets of
the Church.
Galileo believed that the workings of
the universe could be explained, especial
ly with the aid of mathematics, in terms
that could be comprehended by the
human mind. These might not reflect the
means God used to accomplish these phe
nomena, but they are no less useful for
man’s purposes. In so doing he replaced
otiose theorizing about causes with quan
titative observation of phenomena, and
essentially created modern science. His
emphasis of the practical application and
value of science set Galileo apart from
most philosophers of his time. He was
interested in the physical world, from tel
escopes and the moons of Jupiter, to the
laws of falling bodies and the creation of
the pendulum clock. His vision was star
tlingly clear, his mind was never idle, even
through his frequent illnesses. And how
can anyone in this modern day and age
deny the results of his efforts? We may be
concerned with limiting the scope of mod
ern science, but we certainly cannot do
without it!
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
2,7
Perhaps most important to remember,
yet also most difficult to comprehend
given the conflict between his insight and
intellect and his treatment by the Church,
Galileo was a believing Catholic. Not just
paying lip service to those more powerful
than he, but a believer in Holy Scripture
and the preciousness of his soul. Believ
ing that unveiling the truths about the
natural world could only give greater
glory to God, he published his Dialogues,
incurring scientific jealousy and the
wrath of Pope Urban VIII. Tried, convict
ed, and imprisoned (under house arrest)
by the Court of the Inquisition, Galileo
thought that his works would no longer be
valued and his reputation would be forev
er stained. Yet, in the wretchedness of his
confinement, at a time when most of us
would be bitter or frightened or at best
cautiously unproductive, Galileo wrote
Two New Sciences. Galileo lived his phi
losophy literally until he died.
— Janette Fischer, SF85
Remembering Robert Bart
For me, the most memorable character in
my time at St. John’s was Robert Bart; we
might grieve his passing, but delight in
the full life and years he had.
I have always thought of myself as an
“Athenian;” no Spartan naked-on-theground sleeping for me. But Bart could
outdo me: once, during a counseling ses
sion with him, I mentioned that I always
needed cold water on the face first thing in
the morning. “How can you DO that?” was
his astonished reply. What a dear softie!
— Jerry Milhollan, A58
The College welcomes letters on issues of
interest to readers. Letters maybe edited
for clarity and/or length. Those under
500 words have abetter chance of being
printed in their entirety. Please address
letters to: The College Magazine, St.
John’s College, Box 2800, Annapolis, md
21404 or The College Magazine, Public
Relations Office, St. John’s College, 1160
Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, nm 87501.
Letters can also be sent via e-mail to:
b-goyette@sjca.edu, or via the form for
letters on the web site at www.sjca.edu click on “Alumni,” then on “Contact The
College Magazine.”
�2.8
{Alumni Notes}
1938
With the birth of Grace Townsend
Mullaney, Francis Townsend, Jr.
now has nine grandchildren.
1939
At age 83, Malcolm Silver is in his
58th year of practicing dentistry.
1947
John Brunn has retired, but is still
taking classes at the Fromm Insti
tute in San Francisco. “A Johnnie
never graduates!” he writes.
er as well as an author of books in
five or six different genres. Twenty
to thirty times a year, I amuse
myself by visiting schools around
the country to perform my stand-up
comedy/poetry assemblies and
workshops. I also speak at confer
ences for reading teachers and
librarians, where I show them how
to make learning a lot more appeal
ing and fun for their students.
(Amazingly, I get paid for this mis
sionary work.)” Bruce’s books have
sold more than 12 million copies
overall. More of his poetry as well as
poetry lessons and contests to enter
for kids 6 to 13 can be found on gigglepoetry.com.
David Schiller recently delivered
papers on Confucius at four confer
ences.
songs, chant, or dance from the
Baha’i, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, Lat
ter-day Saints, Protestant, Roman
Catholic, and such faith communi
ties. I’ve directed the InterFaith
Conference since 1979, just after it
was founded. Learn more about its
work at www.interfaith-metrodc.org
or 202-234-6300.”
1968
During a sabbatical from teaching,
Bart Kaplan (A) spent seven
months cruising the Caribbean in a
32-foot sailboat. He visited Cuba
twice. His wife and two daughters
visited him in the Bahamas several
times.
Charles Watson’s (A) eldest son is
1964
1951
Tom Williams writes: “This past
July I moved after 43 years in the
same apartment. What to do with
some 2,000 books? I gave my
favorite, Euclid’s Elements, to my
grandson who has a real feel for
mathematics, sold some, threw
away some, and boxed others for
donation. Others, mostly from
St. John’s, I took with me to our
new address, and will feel at home
with them in their new bookcases.
They are indeed old friends - and
the reason I went to St. John’s.”
1959
Barbara Tower is still living in
downtown Annapolis and still in
real estate. Her children, Elizabeth,
John, and Alex, all live locally. She
has eight grandchildren, including
triplets.
1962
Lenke Vietorisz reports that she
and her cousin’s son, Richard
Repasy, have put out a book useful
and handy for those learning Hun
garian: A Guide to Hungarian Verbs
(525 pages, including conjugations
of 300+ verbs), which may be
viewed (and acquired) at
accessi.net/lenkev.
Jeremy Leven is prepping in Paris,
Prague, and Italy for a film on the
theft of the Mona Lisa in the 1920s.
He’ll be directing stars Robin
Williams and Antonio Banderas
from his own script.
“I have taken the Harvard Negotia
tion Course and now, though
still/always a student, I am giving
workshops on this ever-useful
skill,” writes Cecily Sharp-WhiteHILL.
Calvin Byles (who now uses the
name Leif Smith) co-owns a research
and training business with his wife,
Pat Wagner, in Denver. “I run a
think tank with mostly technology,
business, and research clients - indi
viduals who care about exploring
new ideas (check out the web site at
www.pattern.com),” he says.
1966
Penn State Press has published
Postfoundational Phenomenology:
Husserlian Reflections on Presence
and Embodiment by James R. Men
sch. Mensch teaches philosophy at
St. Francis Xavier University.
1967
Bruce Lansky’s publishing compa
Clark Lobenstine writes: “The
ny, Meadowbrook Press just pub
lished IfPigs Could Fly, his seventh
book of children’s poetry and his
“70th, 80th, or goth book overall I forget,” he writes. “I’m a publish
InterFaith Conference’s 21st Annu
al Interfaith Concert at Washington
Cathedral featured a world pre
miere of the five-part setting of an
ancient Hebrew text, as well as
{The College.
now NPR correspondent to West
Africa after a two-year stint as pro
ducer for CNN in Moscow. “Our
baby is looking at colleges with
Russian languages and marine biol
ogy,” he writes.
Donald J. Schell and Marilynn
(Wills) Scott (both SF) report
that their daughter. Patience
Alexandra Schell, was married in
September to Arturo Costillo. “The
wedding guests included almost
10% of the class of’68,” they write.
Their daughter is a research fellow
and lecturer at University of Lon
don; her Oxford DPhil is in Latin
American history.
1970
Edward Macierowski (A) reports
that his latest publication, which
came out in October, is his English
translation of Henri de Lubac’s
“Medieval Exegesis, Volume 2: The
Four Senses of Scripture.”
Hudi Podolsky (SF) writes: “I am
the executive director of the Coali
tion of Essential Schools - a great
mission and a great team to work
with. Bringing some of the wisdom
of the St. John’s design to public
schools-small schools and depth
over breadth. Having a blast! ”
Ken Joseph (A) was the subject of a
column in the Pittsburgh Post
Gazette. Brian O’Neill reported on
Joseph’s circumnavigation of
Allegheny County (Penn.) by bus,
lightheartedly comparing his
accomplishment to that of Magel
lan. Joseph dates his love of public
St. lohn’s College ■ Spring 2001}
transportation to when he was ii
and his parents sent him and a
friend downtown with specific
instructions about which streetcar
to take. “Of course,” he says, “we
didn’t take that one. We saw anoth
er and said ‘Let’s see where it goes.’
It was really a feeling of freedom.”
1971
George Elias (A) writes that his
wife, Deborah Nikkei, has finished
her 40-chapter novel based on the
takeover of Bank of America. His
oldest daughter, Ingrid, will be
studying in India this summer and
fall as part of her undergrad work at
UC Berkeley.
1972
SusannW. Rogsdale (SF) reports:
“After 27 years in technology, we
left it all behind and moved to the
beach to pursue our first love books. We have a small used and
rare bookstore in Cannon Beach,
www.jupiterbooks.com. Our son is
pursuing the liberal arts at Reed
(the next best choice) although cur
rently taking a break doing techni
cal support - the job experience!”
Evan Dudik (A) has been spending
his time since last June publicizing
his new book. Strategic Renais
sance: New Thinking and Innova
tive Toolsfor Creating Great Corpo
rate Strategies... Using Insights
from History and Science, which
was published by the American
Management Association. He
claims major business schools and
consulting firms are mired in the
Middle Ages and says it is one of
the few recent business books that
starts with an auto defe. “Jay Leno
hasn’t called yet,” says Evan, “but
I’ve given 4 radio interviews, sever
al print interviews, and had a num
ber of speaking engagements. The
book has made a steady climb up
Amazon.com’s charts from their
1,437,936th to their 8,913th most
popular, but who’s counting. Harry
Potter watch out.”
Alvin Aronson (A) submits this
report about himself: “He has been
writing a comedy for many years
called Dr. Feelgood, based on the
life of the famous Dr. Max Jacobson,
who treated John F. Kennedy for his
back problems. Jacobson was later
disbarred by the American Medical
�{AlumniProfile}
2,9
Lisa Simeone:
Our Woman at NPR
By Roberta Gable,
A78
t’s not just the voice. But the voice is
unmistakable: rich, intimate, memorahle - and intelligent, hut neither
wiseacre nor world-weary. Perfect for
National Public Radio (NPR), which
has suited Lisa Simeone (Aj^g just
fine: recently she became the host of NPR’s
Weekend All Things Considered.
Simeone’s post-St. John’s radio odyssey
began with a focus on classical music. She
had first discovered her passion for it while a
student (at one point early in her enthusi
asm rushing down to the music hbrary to
ask Liz Bolotin, then the music librarian, if
she had “anything by Brandenburg” on
hand); then, after graduation, she volun
teered at the ten-watt station at Anne Arun
del Community College near Annapolis for
three hours a week, the lone voice of classi
cal in a sea of rock. She landed a job at
WBJC, the classical station in Baltimore, in
1983, stayed there for a year and a half, then
moved over to WETAin D.C., alarger, more
important station, but a helluva commute
from Baltimore. Two years was about
enough of that, and she quit, not sure of the
future, but meanwhile tiny WJHU in Balti
more was about to upgrade from its humble
status as a ten-watt station to something
more substantial. Simeone became part of
the original professional team, and stayed at
WJHU (which, like WBJC and WETA, was
an NPR affiliate) for ten years, from 1986 to
1996, hosting the afternoon classical music
program.
That’s a lot of classical music, even for an
aficionado. She made things more interest
ing for herself (and, as it turned out, for her
audience) by running short interviews right
before All Things Considered, the NPR
evening news show. Her first interviews
were with people having to do with music,
and were four minutes long; gradually she
extended the interview segment to 10, then
30, then 60 minutes, and the interviews to
any topics that interested her, from music to
health to science to social issues. She did
the whole thing herself, editing, producing,
and cutting the tape for the segments.
In 1996, burnt out, she left WJHU to go
freelance. She joined AFTRA, the American
Federation of Radio and Television Artists,
and worked doing voiceovers and narration
Lisa Simeone
Y didn "t want to talk
aboutJust music. I
wanted to talk about a
lot ofstuff.''
both on-camera and off. She also enrolled in
the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins Uni
versity, getting an MA in non-fiction writing
in 1997. But public radio was far from
finished with her.
The NPR documentary show Soundprint
was looking for a new host in 1997, and they
called Simeone to see if she was interested.
She was, especially since it was a regular
gig, but not full-time. She hosted the pro
gram for the next three and half years, pro
duced three documentaries herself, and also
filled in as the perennial guest host of NPR’s
Performance Today. (“I was always leaving,
and every time I did they threw a cham
pagne party.”) She turned down an offer to
become the permanent host of the program,
because she wasn’t interested in re-niching
herself back into classical music. “I didn’t
want to talk about just music. I wanted to
talk about a lot of stuff! ” She had that
{The College. Si. John’s
College . Spring 2001 }
opportunity when she began filling in occa
sionally for Liane Hansen on Weekend Edi
tion Sunday.
Then one day Weekend All Things Consid
ered (WATC) gave her a call. They wanted to
know if Simeone was interested in audition
ing for the host job. “I told them, ‘No! I’m
not working weekends!’” But they finally
persuaded her to audition, and she got the
job. Her first show was October 14, aooo.
Most NPR affiliates air WATC Saturday
and Sunday evenings, from 5:00 until 6:00
(and most NPR listeners will be chagrined
to learn that, in-house, “WATC” is pro
nounced to rhyme with “Yahtzee”).
Simeone’s show ranges from hard news to
cultural pieces, from the ephemeral to the
substantial, from soup to nuts, giving her
the opportunity to talk, as she wished, about
a lot of stuff. And although the ideas about
what stories to do on the show come from
her daily meetings with the producers and
editors, Simeone’s preferences are influen
tial. “This job is a generahst’s dream,” she
says, “and I became a more thoughtful, wellread generalist thanks to St. John’s....! loved
St. John’s, and the truth is there isn’t a day
that goes by that I don’t thank my lucky
stars that I went there, or that I don’t call
upon what I learned there. Just this morn
ing I did an interview with the two transla
tors of a new edition oiAnna Kareninawhat could be more St. Johnnie than that?! ”
Remembering her one-woman interview
show on WJHU, where she was interviewer,
editor, and producer, Simeone revels in the
luxury of not having to cut her own tape.
She reads, she looks at books and CDs, she
writes up questions, she conducts inter
views, she writes introductions and leads,
and she loves it when it’s live rather than on
tape. Early on in her WATC career she start
ed her show at 5:00 one fateful Sunday,
when Katherine Harris was expected to cer
tify the presidential vote count in Florida.
She stayed on the air five until 10:00. The
producer saved her some cold pizza.
Working at National Public Radio is a
pleasure for Simeone. “I love the environ
ment - I spend my time with creative, inter
esting people, with rich lives, who are burst
ing with ideas.” Sounds like a talking
college, with fewer books and more micro
phones.
�{AlumniNotes}
3°
Association for his unorthodox
practices, and this play is in defense
of his methods. Archie Smith, the
83-year-old brother of the late Winfree Smith, has been an actor for ao
years with the Denver Reperatory
Company. He is going to stage a
reading of the play in Denver the
week of February 15. Alvin has
many claims to fame: he was stage
manager for Kennedy’s last birthday
party at the Waldorf Astoria in
1963, when Audrey Hepburn sang
‘Happy Birthday.’ He had a talk
with Louis Armstrong that night
and told him how much he admired
him, to which Armstrong replied,
‘Thank you. Pops.’ He shook hands
with Marilyn Monroe, had lunch
with James Dean, acted with Geral
dine Page, and was once put down
brilliantly by the late Jacob Klein
(who was quite right).”
1973
Peter Ellison (A) is now Dean of
the Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences at Harvard University. His
new book. On Fertile Ground, was
due to be published by Harvard
University Press in March.
1974
2000 marked a year of big changes
for Roger Burk, USAF ret., (A)
and Robin Kowalchuk Burk
(A72). In July Roger left his posi
tion as a senior consultant/analyst
with the Aerospace Corp, and
joined the faculty of the U.S. Mili
tary Academy (West Point). He now
teaches optimization and decision
theory within the Systems Engi
neering department, drawing on
his doctoral degree in operations
research and his experience in the
use of computer models and deci
sion analysis to guide the selection
and evaluation of complex national
security systems. In addition to
teaching, he mentors junior facul
ty, assistant-coaches the crew and
fencing teams, consults, and con
tinues research activities.
Accepting the position entailed a
move to a few rural acres in the
mid-Hudson Valley, where Robin
keeps busy raising and training
champion show dogs (English
Cocker Spaniels, a hunting breed).
She reports that the sight of an out
standing dog standing with unself
conscious grace or moving with
perfect intensity through the fields
takes her breath entirely away.
Indoors, her weaving studio houses
several looms and a not-yet-bigenough stash of linen, cotton and
woolen yarns. She says that dogs
and weaving provide some solace to
the right hemisphere of her brain,
sadly neglected during 25+ years in
the computer industry, during
which time she also perpetrated
several technical books on unsus
pecting Amazon.com customers. In
her spare time and on the principle
that her MBA should probably be
put to some use even if there wasn’t
a single right-brain course in the
whole degree program, Robin con
tinues to consult to companies try
ing to figure out how to use all this
new Internet stuff in their busi
nesses.
1975
Kristin R. Lucas (SF) is working in
downtown Houston in the IT
department of an energy commodi
ties trading company. Her older son
is a junior at Carnegie Mellon Uni
versity and her younger son is a high
school senior.
extraordinarily different wants and
needs, and they let you know
it. Since I never did/will father a
child, this work is very satisfying
to me, and a shock to the nurses,
since many babies who don’t stop
crying for relatives, never cry when
‘Uncle Bill’ holds them. I recom
mend volunteerism for any and
all. Children and youths can con
tribute as well. Find something that
is energizing, and ‘just do it.’”
1978
Caroline (Charlie) Allen (A)
writes: “My occupations in life
since graduation have been music
(both classical and rock), software
engineering, and writing, pretty
much in that order. I got married in
1990 to Christophe (Kokou) Dossou, a master drummer from Togo
whom I met while I was living in
Germany and touring with various
bands. I co-own a small but sophisti
cated studio (24 tracks digital, 30
tracks HDR) called Dos Gatos in
Los Angeles with my business part
Diane Lamoreux Ciba (A) has
finished her course work for a PhD
in marketing at the University of
Connecticut. She is currently
teaching and has the research and
dissertation writing ahead of her.
Quantum Leaps
1976
van Canter (A81) writes: “When reading the last
Peter Clark (A) writes that he’s
still alive and well, living in Ranches
ter, Wyoming. “Not the end of the
world, but close enough to see it.”
1977
Carol Highshaw (SF) has left the
academic world and moved back to
the Washington D.C. area, where
she’s working as a researcher and
writer.
William Malloy (SF) writes:
“Although discussing ideas found
in books and films can be very satis
fying, I have found something at the
other end of the spectrum of activi
ty to be very wonderful as
well. Since late 1999,1 have been a
volunteer at a children’s hospital in
Houston. One evening a week, I
work giving respites to parents, by
talking/playing with older children,
or holding/rocking infants. On Sat
urday afternoons, I hold, rock, or
just comfort premature babies. They
are not just ‘smaller newborns.’
Since preemies ‘aren’t supposed to
be here yet,’ they have many
{The College.
ner, also my bass player. Like me, he
works a lot in software, particularly
digital signal processing. We have a
band called BushTaxi which has one
independent CD out and is about to
release a second. Apart from that
I’ve played on about five
records/CDs for other bands, and
have credits on a number of movies
(for writing special effects code) the one I’m most proud ofis/a/nej
and the Giant Peach, for which I
was Sony’s CG software supervisor.
Lately I’ve been focussing more on
biotech and digital audio than on
computer graphics. I can’t help
think of Mr. Golding when I consid
er my own dislike of telephones, but
I’m very good with e-mail (it is,
after all, one of the bases of my cod
ing life since about 1986) and would
love to hear from folks. My e-mail
address is caro@nwc.net.”
issue of The Reporter, I was reminded of a moment
in my first day of junior French with Mr. Littleton.
He was leading us in reading the first paragraph of
Baudelaire’s ‘Recueillement’: ‘Soi sage, o ma
doulour, et tiens-toi plus tranquille...’ We could hear
the Freshman Chorus singing ‘white sands and gray sands, w
buy my white sands.’ Mr. Littleton, who had been our Freshm
Chorus tutor two years before, told a story. He was visiting
Switzerland when he learned a local song about the change of sea
sons and the level of the snowcaps in the mountains. ‘When the
snow caps go up, I can roll up my shirtsleeves’ or something like
that. He said it was remarkable to him because it showed that you
can see time. He said sitting in that room with us as juniors, hstening to the song we sang as freshmen wafted up the staircase of
McDowell, showed him that he could hear time, as well. We sat
stunned, astounded at this quantum leap.
“And now, reading The Reporter each time I have discovered a
new phenomenon. I start with the class notes from the present
graduating class and turn backward to find the news of my class
mates, the class of 1981. And each year our class recedes farther
and farther. It is as if we are retrograding into the past, soon to
take our place next to the hero generations of the college. And so
now as I turn page after page, I know I can feel time, as well.
“My wife Ellen, five-year-old Taha, new baby Emma, and I hve in
Chicago. I am now a course developer for Unext.com, an online grad
uate and executive education university. I have been a lawyer, ele
mentary school teacher, school administrator, and web developer.” ->■
E
Sf. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�{AlumniNotes}
Michael Ciba (A) continues as pas
tor of Mill Plain Union Church in
Waterbury, Conn., and is enrolled in
a spiritual formation program with
the Shalem Institute in Washington,
D.C. Their daughter Rachel is a jun
ior at UConn, majoring in anthro
pology. Their son Daniel is a fresh
man at Adelphi University in
Garden City, N.Y., majoring in
drama and dance. Connecticut is
the twelfth place they’ve lived since
they were married, and it seems to
agree with them. Anyone who
remembers them is welcome to con
tact Michael at RevCiba@aol.com or
Diane at DiCiba@aol.com.
1979
Gregory R. Cowell ( SF) writes:
“With my second child on the way I
thought I would send in an update
of my life, not having done so since I
drove away 31 years ago. My wife
Jeannine and 1 have been married
for eight years. We have two future
St. John’s candidates at our house:
our daughter Cathryn is three and a
half, and we are expecting a son in
the next month. I have been practic
ing medicine for 16 years and cur
rently I am the medical director of a
medium-size emergency room in
llhnois. Music is my passion, but I
have yet to figure out how to make a
living as a musician. My e-mail is
gcowelled@aol.com. Regards to all,
but especially to old E and F dorm
ers who might be reading.”
1980
News from Tony Waters (A): “I live
in Auburn, Calif. My wife, Dagmar
Waters, and 1 have two children,
aged 12 and 9.1 am currently an
assistant professor of sociology at
California State University, Chico,
and recently published a book.
Bureaucratizing the Good Samari
tan: the Limitations ofHumanitari
an Relief Operations (Westview
2001). It is in part based on my work
in the Rwanda Relief operation in
Tanzania, in 1994-6. In terms of
teaching responsibilities, I do the
crime classes (criminology and juve
nile delinquency), population, eth
nic relations, and ‘macro-sociology’
in general.”
in November in Columbia, Md. “Email me at Nhrosen@aol.com for
any good reason,” he says.
1981
“I was married to the lovely SherryAnn Jhingai in June 2000,” writes
Joshua Berlow (SF). “Sherry con
vinced me to move back east from
Santa Fe, where I had been living.
We were married in St. Thomas, in
the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Sherry
has a lot of friends and family. The
wedding took place on the famed
North Side of St. Thomas, in a very
dramatic villa (Villa LeMcAi) over
looking the sea. My best man was
Eric Quinn (A82). Sherry is origi
nally from Trinidad, in the south
Caribbean, so after the wedding it
was off to her home village of
Cumuto in Trinidad. I’ve never seen
anyplace so lush and green! What
seemed like the entire village
turned out for a wedding party held
in our honor. We are in the process
of buying a house in Baltimore, and
will be moved there by the time the
magazine comes out. Anyone inter
ested can check out my web site at
www.joshuaberlow.com They can
purchase my newly-published book
Insanity Factory: A Psychiatric Mem
oir on the web site, as well as view
various articles, and some papers
written for classes at St. John’s.”
Joe Roach (A) e-mails: “My wife BJ
(Sisson) (A) and I dropped off our
daughter Katie at St. John’s - Katie
matriculated with the new January
Freshmen class. Our two other chil
dren, Molly (15) and Nicholas (ii)
helped move Katie in. After
Nicholas was introduced to Peter
Kalkavage (who was a freshman
tutor when I was a freshman), he
asked me, ‘Was he your college
roommate?’ The cruelty of children.
“I am in my sixth year as a staff
member at The New School in
Newark, Del., which is a democratic
(or liberty-based) school. Melanie
( Jago) Hiner (A80) asked me to
give her some help when she opened
the school in the fall of 1995. At that
point we had 7 students - now we have
over 50. Nick and Molly have been
at the school since the opening.”
1982
Nathan Rosen (A) and his wife
Roberta Babbitt announce the birth
of Brina Tamar Rosen on July ii.
“Yes, that’s six children, for those
who are keeping score,” he notes.
His production of The Crucible ran
{The College.
1983
After 13 years in the practice of law,
Michael Henry (A) recently
opened his own law office in center
city Philadelphia. He has been mar
ried for 13 years and is living in
Media, Penn. His wife Lorie and he
have three children: Michael, age
II, Devin, age 10, and Daniel, age 7.
“We are actively involved in our
parish and children’s school, St.
Mary Magdalen,” Michael writes.
“My practice consists mainly of civil
trial work and immigration. I have
organized a Lawyer’s Retreat group
under the auspices of the Cathedral
Ministries for the Diocese of Cam
den, N.J. We meet four or five times
a year to discuss faith issues and the
practice of law. I would love to hear
from old classmates and other alum
ni.” Michael’s address is i Gordon
Drive/Media, Pa. 19063.
Robin B.G. Laylin (SF) and his
wife, Laura, report the birth of their
daughter, Catherine, on June 26,
2000.
31
ness law at a big firm in Miami. I’m
married to a beautiful and brilliant
woman who hails from North Dako
ta and Seattle, and who is a lawyer as
well. We have two babies, Allegra
(just two) and Ethan (6 months).
Have visited with Mitch Buroker
(SF84) in L.A. recently, and gotten a
nice letter from Jack Armstrong
(A83). Would love to hear from any
St. John’s friends. E-mail at
whill@steelhector.com.”
1984
ALUTHA JAMANCAR (BRAD WEST-
gaard) (SF) says that he’s reached
three milestones this pastyear: “I
celebrated my six-year wedding
anniversary with Daniela Chiapella,
a native of Northern Italy; I
changed careers from print to web
publishing; and I changed my name
from Brad Westgaard to Alutha
Jamancar. Drop me aline at
alutha@alutha.com or stop by my
homepage atwww.alutha.com. I’d
love to hear from old classmates,
especially my freshman core group!
Visitors to our home in Silicon Val
ley are welcome, but had best not
have any cat allergies! ”
David Walworth (A) has finally
While Scott Fitzpatrick (A) does
do freelance web design, as reported
in the fall issue of The Reporter, he
has also been the Principal Site
Architect for Computer Sciences
Corporation for several years. He
has designed all the classified
intranet sites for the Ballistic Mis
sile Defense Organization and is
now currently creating the web sites
and the Director/Flash interactive
CD ROM demo disks for CSC’s elec
tronic knowledge management
group. “In other words,” he writes,
in reference to our omission, “I do
have a full time job.”
Darrel Moellendorf (A) writes:
“Last year, in my 40th year, my wife
- Bonnie Friedmann - and I became
parents for the first time. Our son’s
name is Marino Arnold Friedmann.
I am still living in South Africa, and
teaching philosophy at the University
of the Witwatersrand. My book. Cos
mopolitan Justice, will be published
this year. And I’d love to hear from
old friends.My e-mail address is
103dar@muse.wits.ac.za.”
A note from William Hill (A) says:
“I’m alive and well, practicing busi
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
gotten his yacht design business up
and running: Walworth Yacht
Designs, P.O. Box 3792, KingshiU
VI00851.
Karen Tourian (A) completed her
first Gentury (100 mile) bike ride on
Labor Day.
Peter Green (A) writes; “Still in
Prague, though probably not for
much longer. Spent a week in
August sailing in Groatia with Jason
Walsh (A85). Then found myself in
Belgrade in October to cover the
demise of Slobodan Milosevic.
Arrived in New York in time to expe
rience the unending madness of
Election 2000.”
Connie Bates (A) writes: “My hus
band and I are proud to announce
the birth of our first child. Dean
Calvin Calloway, on November 16,
2000.”
�{AlumniNotes}
3^
1989
1985
1987
Bonnie Bishop Stark (SF) is finish
ing her third year of a nurse-mid
wifery program at Case Western
University in Cleveland, Ohio. She
will complete the program next
year.
“In December I completed my first
(and probably last) marathon,”
writes Marjorie C. Kaplan (A).
“My mother died of lymphoma in
June 3000, and in her memory I
joined Team in Training, a
marathon training program that
benefits the Leukemia and Lym
phoma Society of America. After
four months of training that
required 30 to 45 miles a week of
roadwork, I completed the Honolu
lu Marathon the same day I started
it, crossing the finish line smiling
and under my own power, and NOT
dead last - there were about a dozen
elderly tourists behind me, but they
may have strayed onto the course by
accident.”
1986
“My life has completely changed in
the past two years,” writes Lucy
Duncan (SF). “My business partner
and I closed the Story Monkey
Bookstore in Dec. ’98. We were
growing but not fast enough to war
rant continuing. It was a sad loss for
me and for the community
(Omaha), but we were able to walk
away without significant financial
scars. I took a job in January of ’99
with the Friends General Confer
ence of Religions of Friends (Quak
ers) in Philadelphia as their book
store manager. I really love the
place and the work. FGC is by far
the healthiest organization I’ve ever
worked for. We do primarily a mail
order and Web business (quakerbooks.org). In Oxfordshire, Eng
land, in April of ’99 I met my fiance,
Graham Grarner, at a conference of
Quaker publishers and booksellers.
We will be married in April of aooi
at the London Grove Meeting House
outside Philadelphia. Sheila Virgil
(A88) will play flute at the wedding.
We plan on settling in Philadelphia,
though Grant is keeping his house
in England so who knows about the
future. I see Amy Murphy Bianco
(SF86) regularly. She is an editor at
McGraw Hill launching a science
trade division. I’d love to hear from
anyone else. My email address is:
lucyd@fgquaker.org.”
Erik Mueller-Harder (A) e-mails
this report: “My wife Karen and I
are extremely pleased to announce
the birth of our daughter Clara Jean
in October of 2,000. Our son Timo
thy is about to turn four, and he’s
promising to be a great older broth
er for Clara. There’s lots of news and
photos on our family web site,
www.praxisworks.org. I’m stiU
spending most of my time building
Praxis News Digest, at pnd.praxisworks.com.”
1992
Susie Attar Antebi (A) is living in
Michael Stevens (AGI) writes:
Panama City, Fla. with her two kids,
Daniela and Isaac, and husband
Alberto. “Miss the Johnnies and
would love to hear from long-lost
friends,” she says. Her e-mail is
danisa@sinfo.net.
“We welcomed a daughter, Juba
Linda, into our home on April 22,
2000. We tried a homebirth this
time around - quite a wonderful way
to have a baby. The midwife was a
dynamo - no ‘windeggs’ such as
beset Socrates! Julia joins brother
Ethan, three.”
Chris Tegeler (A) e-mails: “At the
end of January, I moved to Athens,
Greece to work in our land agent’s
office in Piraeus, Arete Tours. A
rather appropriate name for a com
pany employing a Johnnie, I must
say. My address: Xenokratous 42,
10676 Athens, Greece. My e-mail is
StiU the same, ctegeler@yahoo.com.
Looking forward to hearing from
anyone passing through.”
Mark Hentz, III (A) is attending
Northeastern University School of
Law while working full-time at
Northeastern in the office of enroll
ment management. “Jack Gunther
and I were very happy to be in Ted
Hanratty’s wedding party this past
October,” he writes.
Bryan Dorland (A) e-mails: “I
Brett Heavner (A) writes: “My
1988
Kim Paffenroth (A) has just been
hired as an Assistant Professor of
Religious Studies at Iona College in
New Rochelle, N.Y. His book yfz/gizjtine and Liberal Education (Ashgate
Publishing, 2000) has just been
favorably reviewed in The Heythrop
Journal, and his next book, Judas
through the Centuries, will be pub
lished next year by Westminster
John Knox Press. As a gratifying
part of his last days teaching at Vil
lanova University, one of his stu
dents has again been honored with
the highest writing award given to a
first year student at ViUanova.
John Lavery (A) is still in London
and working in the commercial
banking world, despite Leo’s
advice. “Have developed a weak
ness for skiing,” he writes, “and
will take any invitation offered in
that regard.”
Erin Milnes (A) writes: “I’m still
living happily in San Francisco (five
years now - can you believe it?!) I
continue to freelance edit and write,
but I’ve added some video work to
my repertory. In the past year I
worked on a documentary shoot in
Nepal and one in Death Valley
(where temperatures soared to 120
degrees in the shade). I’ve also been
sea kayaking a lot lately and heartily
recommend it. Life is good.”
{The College.
wife Christine and I proudly
announce the birth of our son,
David Graham Heavner, on January
31, 2000.”
Garfield Goodrum (A) writes:
“We have adopted two thorough
breds from an equine rescue group
in Pennsylvania, and I just compet
ed in my first horse show - dres
sage, to my wife’s chagrin (she’s
into jumpers!). We’re loving the
horses, whose names are Turtle and
Clem, and young Graham Heavner
has even ridden them! Don’t forget
to spay/neuter your companion
animal!” ■
David (A) and Cherie (A90) Reese
live in Vienna, Vir., with Sam and
Lydia Reese, ten and three years old.
Their St. John’s education, they
write, allows them to live lives of
total and constant bliss.
1990
David Marquez (SF) says that he
“escaped the slavery of the Star
bucks Corporation” and now works
for Arch Wireless Corporation. “I
look forward to receiving survival
tips from any and all,” he says.
Ken Turnbull (A) is now an associ
ate at Piper, Marbury, Rudnick &
Wolfe LLP in Baltimore, where he is
in the litigation department.
5r. John’s College ■ Spring sooi }
received a Master of Science in
physics from the University of
Maryland in August 2000. In Janu
ary 2001,1 passed the PhD qualify
ing exams in physics at Maryland,
and I am set to begin thesis
research this semester. Anyone who
wants to contact me can reach me
at dorland@physics.umd.edu. ”
Leah Ankeny (SF) is enjoying a
challenging new position as an
admissions counselor for Cornish
College of the Arts, a private, fouryear visual and performing arts col
lege located in Seattle, Washington.
“Despite the rumors of my impend
ing marriage, I am living on my own
and revisiting a more independent
life.” she says. “I am thrilled at the
arrival of my beautiful ‘niece,’ Ema
(Cooney) Bargeron, daughter of my
dear friend and fellow alumna
Joanna (SF). I continue to study
yoga and search for my path spiritual
ly, setting aside performing and writ
ing for a while. I look forward to see
ing all the ’92 Santa Fe folks at our
tenth reunion in Spring 2002.1 can
be reached at: Lankeny@yahoo.com
and I always welcome visitors to the
Peaceful Pacific Northwest.”
Judah M. Domke (SF) writes: “I
just appeared as a lead actor in a
movie called ‘Whipped’ that came
out this past November. If you
missed it on the big screen, John
nies can rent it when it comes out
on video in February 2001. It’s an
R-rated sex comedy that isn’t for the
faint of heart.”
�{Alumni Profile}
33
Shopaholic by Profession
Heather Moore (SFoo) landed a dream ofafirstjob:
she getspaid to revel and shopfor the coolest circus around.
BY SuS3AN Borden, A87
eather Moore’s been
buying quite a lot
these days, going from
city to city, picking up
an odd assortment of
goods: nuts, bolts,
earphone antennas, eye makeup
remover, marine antifreeze, used CDs,
a ping pong table, even mail-order
sequins. But she’s no itinerant shopa
holic. She’s hard at work - as the assis
tant buyer on tour with the Cirque du
Soleil, the avant-garde circus that’s
much closer to The Matrix than it is to
Dumbo.
Moore lucked into the job this summer,
after a post-graduation move to Denver with
her boyfriend, Joey Chernila (SFoa). A
temp agency sent the couple to Cirque du
Soleil, where they worked as runners,
acquiring the products purchased by the
buyers. When a permanent job opened up,
Moore applied, won the position, and head
ed to Montreal for training. Since then,
she’s been to Minneapolis, Washington,
D.C., Atlanta, and Miami. New York, Chica
go, Boston, and Philadelphia are slated for
the coming months, and by the time the
tour’s over in 2002, she’ll have hit Houston,
Dallas, and Phoenix. She says the travel is a
dream come true. “For the last four months
of school I kept telling my roommate, ‘If I
could just get a job where they would pay me
to travel I would never complain.’ It’s exact
ly what I wished for,” she says.
Although Moore travels within the United
States, her co-workers come from 52 coun
tries and include Chinese acrobats, Russian
jugglers, and all manner of Canadian col
leagues. Most business is transacted in
Heather Moore (above) is an assitant buyer
ON TOUR WITH DrALION, WHOSE ACTS ARE
ENHANCED BY HIGH-TECH EFFECTS (bELOw).
French, which Moore says is difficult
even after Phedre and Fleurs du Mai.
“I’m working on speaking French,
which is a big challenge, especially
since it’s not really French, it’s Quebe
cois,” she says. “Speaking French will
be integral in my later career with
Cirque.” Later career? How long can a
first job last?
Moore, who knows a good thing
when she falls into it, says that while
her job lasts until the end of the tour in
another year and a half, she’s already
exploring different departments and
thinking about different opporutinites
within Cirque, which has headquarters
in Montreal, Amsterdam, Singapore,
and Orlando. Her current fascination is the
tech department. “Our show has a lot of
effects - lighting and rigging - to facilitate
some of the acts. There’s an aerial ballet
with two dancers on a long silk rope doing a
series of acrobatics in the air. The behindthe-scenes tech stuff helps make the show
spectacular.”
Moore is also considering working with
Cirque’s development of a permanent com
plex in London consisting of a hotel, a
restaurant, a retail area, and a show. In the
meantime, she’s enjoying the Cirque du
Soleil life, which she says resembles her justbygone undergraduate days.
“Who would ever think they could get a
first job like this?” she asks. “It’s been so
exciting, and it’s come at such a great time. I
didn’t even get good and used to being out of
college before I joined up with Cirque. You
live with these people, you work with them,
you eat with them. You the get chance to
develop intense relationships with every
body around you while you’re on a constant
road trip. It’s like college on wheels.” 4"
Michael Deutsch (SFGI) has been
Jonathan Secora Pearl (A) writes
Aaron Mason (SF) reports: “I am
promoted to vice president of Wad
dell & Associates, Inc., a provider of
investment and financial counsel
located in Memphis, Tenn. He
earned his CFP (Certified Financial
Planner) license in 1997 and served
previously as assistant vice presi
dent at the firm.
that after leaving St. John’s in 1990
he studied music at Indiana Univer
sity, then received a Master of Music
in Vocal Performance from Rice in
1997. He is currently pursuing a
PhD in musicology at the University
of California, Santa Barbara, with
an emphasis on the cognition of
speech and song.
alive and well, living in Manhat
tan’s Upper West Side with my
boyfriend of nearly five years. Still
an aspiring actor, I have taken a
‘dayjob’ with a large architectural
firm writing and editing for their
marketing department. In March, I
am acting in a ten-minute play that
I wrote; it’s a dark comedy called
‘Mr. Oedipus.’ Looking forward to
1993
Alex Ellerman (AGI) is a flight
instructor with Navy Training
Squadron 29. VANESSA Ellerman
(A) is practicing law with Hornblow
er, Manning & Ward, and they’re
both still celebrating the birth of
their son Ian on April 20, 2000,
(The College.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�{Alumni Notes}
34
JohnnyXpress
1994
An Unofficial Bulletin Board/E-mail List
for the St. John's Community
Hallie Leighton (SF92) has started a new yahoo “eGroup” to
function as an unofficial hulletin hoard for the St. John’s commu
nity. On johnnyXpress, members of the SJC community worldwide
can post and read announcements and queries (e.g., “Moving to a
new city - looking for area Johnnies/alumnae chapter/contacts”
or “Whatever happened to Johnnie Doe, class of ‘__, A/SF?” or
“Hey, I have a gallery opening...”). These announcements are
received in the e-mail boxes of all Johnny subscribers. Subscribing
is free and easy - just e-mail johnnyXpress-subscribe@egroups.com.
For more information about johnnyXpress, e-mail johnnyXpressowner@egroups.com or go to http://www.charm.net/~bfant/
johnny/bulletin.html, part of the unofficial alumni site run by
Bill Fant (A79).
The purpose of johnnyXpress is to enable members of the St.
John’s College community to get and/or share information with
other Johnnies as quickly as possible. Thus it is for announce
ments and brief queries. Though the list is not moderated, meta
physical meanderings or idle banter will not be allowed. (The rea
son for this draconian rule: there is already an e-mail list for
conversation, “the Johnny List.” To subscribe to the high-volume
Johnny list, send an e-mail to majordomo@charm.net with the
words “subscribe johnny” or “subscribe johnny-digest” in the
body of the e-mail message.)
Why is this bulletin board “unofficial”? Because it’s not run by
the college. The college is working on a new web site that will have
more features for alumni but it won’t be online until next fall at the
earliest.
warmer weather and hearing from
long lost Johnnies!
Aaronious@earthlink.net. ”
reads them, though upside-down,
rather than eating them, we know
she is headed for SJC class of
2030.”
John Markos O’Neill (SF)
reports that he is in his fourth
happy year of “bicycling, singing
(in Schola Cantorum, a local cho
rus), dancing (swing), and coding
in Silicon Valley. I would love to
hear from Johnnies in the SF Bay
area or elsewhere! E-mail me at
Jmo@ipsmedia.com.”
Jim and KRISTEN (Riddlespurger)
Litsinger (A) happily celebrate the
first twenty-four months with their
daughter, Emily Golden Litsinger.
“Born in April 1999, she is a true
delight with curly (can’t explain
that one!) blond hair. Her eyes
always smile and she is quick to gig
gle. Big brother Nathaniel (31/a),
also adores his sister, particularly as
long as she doesn’t play with the
toys he might want to play with.
Emily already shows a great love of
books and now that she actually
Ethan Schoonover (SF) is e-business director for Lowe Lintas and
Partners (an international marketing/communications agency) in
Southeast Asia, currently based in
Bangkok. He oversees online mar
keting, web site development, and
internet strategy for multinational
clients. “I get to travel frequently
throughout the region, which is
enjoyable as I continue to be a stu
dent of the many cultures I
encounter. I do miss the mountains
and beauty of Santa Fe, but the year
’round tropical beaches in SE Asia
go a long way towards assuaging my
homesickness for the USA. And of
course, ever true to St. John’s, I am
obligated to occasionally quote
Homer in meetings with clients. I’d
love to hear from friends/enemies.
Here is my e-mail address: ethan.
schoonover@lowehntas .com.”
{The College.
A note from Emi Ima-Kohn and
Colin Ray (both A94): “We met at
St. John’s. Emi was living in the
U.S. although she was Japanese.
Colin had been hving in Nigeria
although he was American. We
both had Mrs. Maschler for Fresh
man Greek. Although we were in
the same Greek class, we did not
really get to know one another until
late in the spring of our Freshman
year when we took a clowning class
together. Cohn exceUed at jugghng;
Emi excelled at falling-down. By the
end of the year, we were very close
friends. During the summer of 1991
Emi taught at a camp in Vermont
and Colin returned to Nigeria to
visit family and friends.
“After spending part of sopho
more year in Santa Fe, Emi moved
to France and put herself through
the French university system by
being an au-pair for a French fami
ly. After completing St. John’s,
Colin went to Cameroon as a Peace
Corps volunteer to teach math in
French. For nine years, we kept in
touch-sometimes more frequently,
sometimes less, hut always as close
friends. After completing a mas
ter’s degree in Russian studies at
the Sorbonne, Emi was accepted
into the D.E.A. (a degree between a
master’s and doctoral degree) pro
gram at the Political Science Insti
tute in Paris, where she focused her
studies on the new Independent
States of the former Soviet Union.
After the Peace Corps, Colin
returned to the U.S. to study law
and business at Willamette Univer
sity in Salem, Oregon.
“In 1999 we started keeping in
touch more and more. In March
3000 Colin traveled to Paris to see
Emi. In May, Emi came to the U.S.
for Colin’s graduation ceremony.
On graduation day, we became
engaged. After announcing our
engagement, we hopped on Colin’s
motorcycle and seven days and
3800 miles later we arrived in New
York. In June, Emi then had to
return to Paris to complete an
internship at the OECD - Organiza
tion for Economic Cooperation and
Development. At the end of July,
Colin took the New York bar exam.
At the beginning of November,
Colin happily accepted a position as
an Associate Attorney with a smaU
international law firm in Amster
Sf. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
dam. He will primarily work in
international corporate and inter
national tax law. And ... at 11:00
on November ii, 3000, in Linlith
gow, Scotland, we were married.
The best way to reach us is by
e-mail at: Emikocolin_ray@hotmail.com.”
Johnny Metelsky (A) and Lydia
Rolita (A96) were married on June
17th in their backyard in the San
Bernardino Mountains in Southern
California. Johnnies in attendance
were: Muneet Rakshi (A94), Hope
DelCarlo (SF94), Jen Donnelly
(A96), JOELLA KLINGHOFEER (A96),
Aimee Lalone (A94), Sundance
Metelsky (AGI90), Paul More
(A94), John Williams (A96), and
Ron Wingate (A94). Honorary
Johnnies John Metelsky and Ethan
Billotte were also in attendance.
Lydia and Johnny plan to move
back East in a couple of years when
Lydia finishes medical school at
Loma Linda University and Johnny
finishes his masters in astrophysics
atUC Riverside. E-mailjmetelsky@hotmail.com.
Bill Kowalksi (SF) writes: “I am
happy to announce that my second
novel. Somewhere South ofHere, is
finally finished and will be pub
lished by HarperCollins in March of
3001. Most of the action takes place
in Santa Fe, and readers of this pub
lication will probably recognize a
certain small liberal arts college
which plays a minor but noticeable
role in the story - though of course
any similarities to colleges either
living or dead are purely coinciden
tal. In addition, Eddie’s Bastard,
my first novel, is out in paperback,
and is now being translated into 12
languages - including Finnish,
Hebrew, Czech and my grandmoth
er’s personal favorite, Polish. No
word yet on Tagalog or Urdu. So far
nobody has bought the film rights,
either, but hope, as they say,
springs eternal. Another piece of
good news is that HarperCollins
has also purchased the rights to my
third novel, which is still in its very
early stages, and my fourth, about
which I have no clue. After two loud
and smoggy years in Brooklyn I’ve
moved to Toronto, where I live with
my non-Johnny companion and
freaky consort, Alexandra. I wel
come email from friends and class
mates, so please write to wilham.
kowalski@CIMteration.com.”
�{AlumniProfile}
35
La Vie Parisienne
Phil Wood, owner ofParisfixture the San Francisco Book Co., is afrancophile success story.
BY
Sus3AN Borden, A87
or much of his adult life,
Phil Wood (A67) knew he
wanted to live in Paris. He
had first visited the city
when he was in the army
in ighr, stationed in Ger
many. The charm of the culture, the
intellectual bent of the people, and the
beauty of the country attracted him from
the start.
In 1986, he rented an apartment on
the lie St.-Louis but ended up spending
most of the year working at his job in
California. Undaunted, he continued to
study French. Ten years later, when he
was working for Parallax Press in Berke
ley as comptroller/computer systems
administrator, he found himself in Paris
for several weeks.
“I had very little hope of extricating
myself,” says Wood, who was at the time a
devoted employee. “Then my boss, who
knew I wanted to move and who’d been
interviewing people to take his place, told
me on the phone that someone he’d inter
viewed was not suitable for his job but could
do my job quite well. He said, Tf you’re ever
thinking of leaving, now might be the time.’
I remember the moment when I came out of
that phone booth on Rue Monge in the fifth
arrondissement and realized that I might
actually be able to move to France.”
Wood decided to take the leap. He signed
up for the Cours de Langue et Civilisation
Frangaise at the Sorbonne, found an apart
ment on the lie de la Cite, and began to
investigate starting a business. Learning
about the French educational system and
about the French business world, he says,
was an adventure in the French way of doing
things.
Having always admired the intellectual
disposition of the French, Wood enjoyed
learning how to write the French disserta
tion, a composition with a strict form: the
question, the thesis, the antithesis, and the
synthesis. “I realized, here is a very power
ful cultural difference. They’ve gone
through this process throughout their edu
cation and they all know how to do this.’”
But when it came to starting a business.
Wood was not certain that the intellectual
approach was best. Planning to open a book
store on the left bank, he took a weeklong
Phil Wood didn’t do a market survey, as his
French business advisers dictated; he
STARTED THE BOOKSTORE AND WAITED TO SEE IF
ANYONE WOULD COME IN.
workshop on French business practice and
found that much emphasis was placed on the
etude de marche, the market study. “Every
one kept asking me if I had done one. I said
no. My feeling was, the way I’m going to do
my market study is by starting the store and
seeing if anybody comes in,” says Wood.
“The etude is an intellectual approach, but it
can be counterproductive, at least for an
American. You can think a lot and do studies
and in the end never do anything.”
As it turns out. Wood was not hampered
by skipping the etude. His English-language
bookstore, San Francisco Book Co., does a
fine business, selling used books to a clien
tele about half French-speaking and half Eng
lish-speaking. Wood says that the French are
careful about what they read and tend to buy
serious books, especially history and good
literature. “Books that are somewhat criti
cal of America or a little offbeat sell well,
books by Bill Bryson and Hunter Thomp
son,” says Wood. “The French also like con
spiracy-type works about JFK.” Wood’s Eng
lish-speaking customers include a tourist
trade with an appetite for paperback edi
tions of literature and modern fiction.
Although Wood deals with the business
rather than the retail side of the store, he is
not deprived of encounters with the public.
{The College.
Sf. John’s College • Spring 2001 }
He and his principal book buyer, Dick
Toney, spend many afternoons looking
through books, often in private collec
tions. The advantages of such excur
sions, says Wood, go beyond the com
mercial: “You get to meet interesting
people and see their apartments in
Paris, go to parts of town you’ve never
been to and see how people live.”
Wood remembers one picture-perfect
afternoon when he and Toney visited
two sisters, “respectable old ladies,” at
their house near Fontainebleu. “It was
like something out of a movie: a beauti
ful village, nothing moving, no cars, a
little river. The house was right across
from the church. Two elderly women
answered the bell and the first thing
they wanted was not to talk about the
books, but to sit down and have drinks
in the garden. There we were, Dick and
I, two old guys from California sitting with
two elderly spinsters, drinking apple juice.
The sun was out and the birds were singing
and the church bell was ringing and finally
we had to say, ‘what about the books?’ ”
But it’s not just respectable old ladies that
Wood has met. In 1999, he married Anouk
Malaquin, whom he met through mutual
friends. “Our first ‘date’ was actually the
result of a misunderstanding on my part
about the time I was supposed to show up to
help some friends,” he says. “When they
said to come at ‘six-thirty,’ it never occurred
to me they meant 6:30 a.m., so when I
arrived at 6:30 p.m. - i8h3o French time Anouk was there and my help was no longer
needed. I said, ‘I guess I’ll go to the movies,’
and she said ‘What a good idea! ’ and off we
went. We saw Breaking the Waves, which I
had been intending to see but probably
wouldn’t have chosen for a first date! ”
Today, Wood’s vie Parisienne is complete.
He lives in an apartment in Montmartre,
has married into an old bourgeois family,
and runs a bookstore on the left bank. And
he’s enough of a Paris fixture that the guide
book Paris Access published a list of his city
favorites, including the Jardin du Luxem
bourg, the market in the Rue Mouffetard,
the city lit up at Christmas with concerts in
the churches, watching the boulistes around
Montmartre, and - appropriately enough for
a bookstore-owning Johnnie - the reading
room of the Bibliotheque Ste. Genevieve.
�{AlumniNotes}
3®
Amanda Dulin (A) writes that she is
happy in Charlottesville with
Dominic.
Delsen) Flynn (A). “We are scuba
diving and changing lots of dia
pers!”
Nathan Humphrey (A) has a piece
Alice Brown (A) writes: “Greg and
in the Fall 2000 issue of re:generation quarterly about how sophomore
year at St. John’s - in particular his
reading of the Confessions - led to
his spending the summer at a
Catholic Benedictine monastery. As
the son of an Evangehcal Christian
minister, Humphrey was taught to
file “Cathohcism” under “cults,”
along with Mormonism and Scien
tology. But at the monastery “the
false dichotemy between the
‘sacred’ and the ‘secular’ disap
peared.” His piece is a plea for
understanding among the various
Christian denominations.
I are in Columbus, Ohio, where
Greg is earning a PhD in classics at
OSU and I am teaching at a charter
school. Life is grand. Best wishes to
all.”
1995
October 29, 2000 saw the wedding
of China Williams (A) and Matt
Baum (A). The ceremony was held at
Sigmund Stern Grove in San Fran
cisco, Calif.
A report from Carrie Sager (A):
“In the fall, I spent three great
months in China studying acupunc
ture and traditional Chinese medi
cine. The experience was fantastic.
Surprisingly, I grew to really love
China and was sad to leave. After
China, I visited Hong Kong - a nice
return to civilization. Then it was
six weeks of travelling around Thai
land. One of the funniest things on
my trip - there I am standing on a
pier in the middle of Bangkok and
who do I run into... a fellow John
nie, Diedre O’Shea (A97). In all,
an awesome trip although my body
was really ready to come home and
eat good old North American food
by the end. I would love to offer
what little advice I can to anyone
travelling to those countries. For
now, I will keep my e-mail address at
carrie_china@yahoo.com. My other
news is that I am getting married.
My boyfriend proposed the week
before I left - guess he wanted to
make sure I came backNow I
have just nine months to get ready
for the big day - Sept. 28, 2001.
Knowing my timing, it will conflict
with Annapolis homecoming
again!”
“My husband, Ethan, and I are
doing a two-year tour of duty in
Guam,” writes Sarah (Van
Cheryl Heneveld (AGI) is still in
1996
Adrienne Jakowski Rukensiein
married Peter Rubenstein (both A)
in July of 1998. They are currently
living in Arlington, Vir. After gradu
ating, Adrienne got an MA in Teach
ing Secondary English, taught for
two years with Denver Public
Schools, and is now getting another
MA in Deaf Education at Gallaudet
University in Washington, D.C. She
was recently offered a job teaching
English to high school seniors at a
deaf school in D.C. Peter has been
exploring technical jobs with
USwest and an Internet company in
DC called Covad. He enjoys eating a
bowl of Lucky Charms while watch
ing the Powerpuff Girls or Dexter’s
Laboratory on Cartoon Network.
His favorite philosopher is still
Leibniz and his favorite color is
green.
James Cromer (AGI) is going back
to school - to Skidmore College - to
learn how to design web pages while
he completes his ninth year of teach
ing.
Joy Pope (AGI) and Miguel Alandete have welcomed a daughter into
their lives. Maya Lucia Pope Alandete was born on October 3, weigh
ing in at an astonishing 9 lbs., ii oz.
Sid Ranck (AGI) has accepted the
role of godfather. The new family is
doing beautifully in Eugene, Ore. their home now - and they’d love to
hear from classmates or Johnnies in
the area. Alandete@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Melissa Cate (A) and Darcy
Christ (A94) were married on
October 7, 2000.
Douglis Beck (AGI) and Susan
Allen are thrilled to announce the
birth of a beautiful daughter named
Veronica Vandenberghe Beck on
December 22, 2000. Says Douglis,
“She has brought not only joy to our
{The College -
world, but also a good number of
sleepless nights, a small amount of
chaos, and general mayhem for all
concerned. I continue to work as an
architect at Cannon Design in St.
Louis, while Susan is a manager for
Borders Books & Music. Veronica is
currently unemployed and search
ing for a position in waste manage
ment.”
New Delhi. “I have not found any
Johnnies here yet, and I miss the
Washington, D.C., alumni discus
sions,” she says. Her e-mail address
is cheryls@vsnl.com.
1997
John Carle (SF) reports that he
and Cheryl are alive and well in
metro Atlanta. After a short stint
with CNN, he’s working as a web
developer with a consulting firm.
E-mail is welcome at jcarle@newtousbaby.com.
Juan Villasenor (A) will graduate
from Vanderbilt Law School in May
2001 and has accepted a clerkship
with a federal judge in Nashville,
Tenn., for one year beginning in
September.
1998
my husband Chris and I just had our
first child on November i6th, 2000.
Her name is Rosalyn Ophelia.”
Kathleen (Tinning) Connelly (A)
writes: “Patrick Connelly and I were
married June 12,1999, and have
been living in Vicenza, Italy, ever
since. Italy is beautiful.”
Susie Lorenzini (AGI) and Jason
Salinas (AGIoo) were married in
June 2000, in San Diego.
In the summer 1999 issue of The
Reporter, an unknown perpetrator
sent in a false report about Eve Gib
son (A) and Todd Pytel (A). Here’s
a correction from Eve: “Todd will
not be ‘working closely with the
Warner Brothers Network in the
upcoming months’ because he is too
busy teaching high school math at
Senh, a Chicago public school, nor
am I teaching fifth graders science
at a Catholic school in New York. I
have been playing rugby for the
Chicago Women’s Rugby Football
Club and tutoring at Literacy Chica
go, and toiling in an office.”
2000
Valerie Whiting (A) reports that
she got her Peace Corps assignment:
She headed to Panama in January to
be an environmental educator.
Max R. Fink (SF) reports: “Work
ing in Chicago as a corporate
recruiter (probably for something I
did in a past life!). Just returned
from a vacation to the rainforests of
Costa Rica. Thinking of becoming a
tour guide in South America.”
Heather (Miller) and Nate
Greenslit (both A) are the proud
parents of Emily Ruth, born March
25. Heather taught middle school
math and science in a private school
outside Baltimore until Emily’s
arrival. She’s now a stay-at-home
mom and a private tutor. Nate got
his master’s degree in cognative sci
ence at Johns Hopkins and will
begin a program in the history and
sociology of technology at MIT. The
Greenslits now live in Worcester,
Mass.
1999
Erin Gage Bates (A) writes: “I was
married February 5th, 2000, and
St. John’s College • Spring 2001 }
Calling All Alumni
The College wants to hear from you.
Call us, write us, e-mail us. Let your
classmates know what you’re doing.
The next issue tvill be published in
July; copy deadline is May 20.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404; b-goyette@sjca.edu.
In Santa Fe:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Public Relations Office,
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe,
NM 87501-4599;
classics@maiLsjcsf.edu.
Alumni Notes
on the
Web:
Read Alumni Notes and contact
The College on the web at:
www.sjca.edu - click on “Alumni.”
�{Student Voices}
Through a Photographer’s Eye
The Transfer Experience
A
Imost 30% of St. John’s students have spent a year or more
as transfers, making them true hi-campus members of the
/
college community. Whether their “year abroad” is spent in
Santa Fe, after some time in the brick-clad East, or in
/
Annapolis, after a year or two in the mountain air, transfer
students almost universally enjoy the experience.
Sylvaine Rameckers, Aoi, spent last year in Santa Fe. An avid photogra
pher, she fell in love with the landscape of the southwest. Although St. John’s
students generally rate the location of the campuses low on their list of why
they chose the college, Santa Fe and Annapolis are nevertheless both beauti
ful places-each in its own way. Here are some of Sylvaine’s favorite photos
that capture the flavor of each location.
{The Colleges?. John’s
College • Spring 2001 }
37
�38
{Alumni Association News}
From the Alumni
Association President
Greetings!
Thanks to you all for giving me the opportunity to lead the Association as its
new president. You have a dedicated and creative Board of Directors, who will he
focused on maintaining tradition and building new opportunities for alumni to
connect with each other and the College. For example...
I wish you could all have joined us for a delightful evening on January ay.
Eighteen groups of alumni and current St. John’s seniors met at Santa Fe
restaurants for Senior Dinners. The dinners, which have
become tradition on both campuses, are designed to wel
come soon-to-he alumni into the Association. As you can
imagine, the conversations are lively and varied, ranging
Electing Alumni
Representatives to the
St. John’s and Alumni
Association Boards
Election ofAlumni Representatives
to the St. John's College Board of
Visitors and Governors
In accordance with Article VIII, Section II
of the By-Laws of the St. John’s College
Alumni Association, notice is hereby given
that the following alumni have been nomi
nated by the Alumni Association Board of
Directors for election to the St. John’s Col
lege Board of Visitors and Governors.
from essay topics, to career possibilities, to current pic
tures of student life, to news of tutors and mutual friends,
to life after St. John’s, to activities of the Association. Mem
Glenda Eoyang
ories, hopes, and fears are traded and relished across time
and geography.
This is one of my personal favorites among the many Association activities. It is
Notice is also given that nominations may
be made by petition.
The rules governing submission of nomi
nations by petition are as follows:
I. Petitions must be signed by at least fifty
members of the Alumni Association in good
standing.
a pleasure to revisit that invigorating time in my life. I am always surprised to see
how similar the experience of today is to that of the mid-yos, when I made my
transition from student to alumna-and also how different it is. The current crop
of seniors are so bright and curious and verbal and excited as they come to terms
with integrating their Johnny experience with the rest of their lives.
If you live in the Santa Fe or Annapolis area and would be interested in hosting
a dinner, let the Alumni Directors know. Usually, two alumni co-host eight seniors
at a local restaurant. The college Alumni Directors select the sites, but they also
take suggestions. The cost is shared by the hosts, the college, and the Alumni
Association. You’ll be asked to distribute some information about the Association
and explain the benefits of staying in touch with other alumni. It is a wonderful
opportunity to connect and see what’s happening in the world of St. John’s!
For the past, the present, and the future.
ST. JOHN’S college
alumni association
Whether from Annapolis or Santa Fe,
undergraduate or Graduate Institute,
Old Program or New, graduated or not,
all alumni have automatic membership in
the St. John’s College Alumni Association.
The Alumni Association is an independent
organization, with a Board of Directors
elected by and from the alumni body.
The Board meets four times a year, twice
on each campus, to plan programs and
coordinate the affairs of the Association.
This newsletter within The College
magazine is sponsored by the Alumni
Association and communicates Alumni
Association news and events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SFy6
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary -Barbara Lauer, SFy6
Treasurer - Bill Fant, Ayg
Getting-the-Word-Out Action Team ChairTom Geyer, A68
Glenda Holladay Eoyang, SFy6
Eoyang@chaos-limited.com
Web site -www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Mailing address - Alumni Association,
St. John’s College, Box 2800, Annapolis,
MD 21404 or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 87501.
{The College-
St. John’s College • Spring 2001 }
�39
{Alumni Association News}
2. Nominations must be accompanied by a
biographical sketch of the nominee.
3. The consent of all persons nominated
must be obtained.
4. The petitions must reach the Directors
of Alumni Activities NO LATER THAN
DECEMBER i, 2001.
c/o Alumni Office
St. John’s College
P.O. Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404
If nominations by petition are received,
there will be an election conducted by mail
ballot. If there are no such nominations,
the nominees listed below will be consid
ered elected. Terms will begin in July of
2002.
Eor his second term:
Jason Todd Walsh, A85
New York, N.Y.
MBA, Harvard Business
School, 1989; entrepreneur-in-residence, McKin
sey & Company, 2000present; executive vice
president/ start-up gener
al manager,
Oncology.com, 19992000; vice president of business develop
ment of Quest Diagnostics, Incorporated,
1998-1999; vice president/general manager.
Long Island Region of Quest Diagnostics,
1996-1998; associate director for strategy and
development for the Opto-Electronics Group
of Corning Inc., 1993-1995; business manag
er, television components. Corning Asahi
Video Products Company, 1990-1993; mem
ber of the St. John’s College Alumni Associa
tion Board of Directors, 1990-1996; Treasurer
of that Board, 1998-2000; Vice- President of
that Board, 2001-; Lady Liberty Regatta
chairman. New York Harbor Sailing Founda
tion, 1998 & 2001; member, St. John’s Col
lege Board of Visitors and Governors, 1999-.
For his first term:
Mark Middlebrook, A83
Oakland, Calif.
Mark is a rabid liberal artist in sheepish techno-geek clothing. After earning his BA from
St. John’s in 1983, he completed a Master’s
degree in structural engineering at the Uni
versity of California, Berkeley. Since 1988,
Mark has been the sole proprietor of
Daedalus Consulting in Oakland, Calif. In
this guise, he fools around with computer
aided drafting (CAD) software for money.
Seeking moderation in all things-especially
time spent with computers-Mark remains
active in the liberal arts and the St. John’s
College community. He has participated for
many years in the Northern California alumni
chapter and the Alumni Association’s Board
of Directors. Since 1999, he has taught St.
John’s-style seminars at St. Mary’s College in
Moraga, Calif. Mark’s other avocations
include music, languages, and cooking. He
currently is working on perfecting his tortilla
espanola, Andalusian Spanish, and flamenco
bulerias.
For his second term:
Clinton Dale Lively, A78
Princeton Junction, N.J.
MS, Mathematics, University of Virginia;
MBA, Finance, University of Chicago. Man
aging Director and Head of Portfolio Risk
Management, Merrill Lynch, NY; directing
firmwide event analysis, process risk manage
ment, country risk assessments, internal risk
capital allocation, and oversight of market
risk taken within the Private Client, Asset
Management and Merrill Lynch Treasury
divisions. Managing Director and Partner in
charge of the Corporate Risk Management
Group for the Bankers Trust Company, 199799; previously for Bankers Trust: joined the
bank in r984 in Sales, Trading and Funding
Department; in 1987 a member of the team
that developed the Global Market Risk Man
agement function; in 1989 transferred to
Tokyo to set up the Global Market Risk group
for Asia, Australia, and New Zealand; in 1992
returned to New York as head of the Global
Risk Analytic group and was appointed head
of market risk globally in 1995; in spring of
1997 chosen to manage the Corporate Risk
Management function overall. A member of
Bankers Trust Asset Liability Committee
(ALCO) and Management Committee on
Controls. On the Board of Directors of
Bankers International Corporation and LongTail Risk Insurance, Ltd.
Election ofOjftcers and Directors
ofthe St. John ’a College Alumni
Association
In accordance with Article VII, Sections I
and II of the By-Laws of the St. John’s Col
lege Alumni Association, notice is hereby
given that the following alumni have been
nominated to serve as officers and direc
tors on the St. John’s College Alumni Asso
ciation Board of Directors.
Notice is also given that nominations for
the positions as officers and directors of
the Association may be made by petition.
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
The rules governing submission of nom
inations by petition are as follows:
1. Petitions must be signed by at least thirty
members of the Alumni Association in
good standing.
2. Petitions must be presented to the Sec
retary of the Alumni Association prior to
the Annual Meeting at which the election
is to be held. Petitions should be sent to
Barbara Lauer, c/o Alumni Office, St.
John’s College, P.O. Box 2800, Annapolis,
MD 21404.
3. The election will be held at the Annual
Meeting on Saturday, July 7 at 1:30 p.m. in
Santa Fe.
4. The candidates for Officers and Direc
tors receiving the highest number of votes
for those offices shall be declared elected.
Terms will begin on January i, 2002.
For his first term:
William Tilles, A59
Rockville, Md.
William R. (Bill) Tilles is
an Organization Develop
ment consultant specializ
ing in the planning and
facilitation of processes
that enhance organiza
tional performance.
Before he retired from
IBM in r992, he held man
agement and staff positions working with
government and commercial clients. He was
a principal in Collaborative Decisions, Inc., a
small, women-owned business focusing on
decision support technology. Currently, as an
associate of CI International, based in Den
ver, Colorado and Washington, D.C., he pro
vides facilitation and planning services to
government and commercial clients. He is
also an active participant in the DC Cultural
Alliance Business Volunteers for the Arts pro
gram, where he was honored as Business Vol
unteer of the Year in 1999. Tilles is in his
third term on the Board of Visitors and Gov
ernors, where he is the Chair of the Visiting
Committee and member of the Executive
Committee.
For her first term:
Valerie Pawlewicz, A89
Annapolis, Md.
Currently designs educa
tional trips for the Smithsonian-the largest, most
diverse, museum-based
travel program in the
world (1998-). She organ
izes performing arts, fine
arts, culinary, history and
�40
{Alumni Association News}
literature seminars, working directly with
such organizations as the Santa Fe Opera,
Toronto International Film Festival, and the
Spoleto Festival USA, and with such individu
als as Ken Burns, Holly Mondavi and Gian
Carlo Menotti. Prior to the Smithsonian
(1996-98), she worked as an independent
folklorist on community oral history projects,
including a St. John’s College oral history
project (over ao interviews were collected
from faculty, alumni, staff at both campuses).
She was the Senior Resident for Student
Activities at St. John’s College, Annapolis,
Md. (1994-96), at the same time serving as in
house substitute teacher at the Key School in
Annapolis. From 1992-94, she completed
graduate work at UNC Chapel Hill in folk
lore, taking on oral history projects as diverse
as furniture factory workers and Southern
funeral directors. She served as a class leader
for The Campaign for Our Fourth Century
(1993-95). She is married to Leo Pickens
(A78), Director of Athletics on the Annapolis
campus.
For her first term:
Martha Black Jordan, SFGI86
Mexico City, Mexico
Jordan was born in Mexico
City and educated in the
U.S. She holds a BA from
Sweet Briar College, an
MA from St. John’s, and an
MFA from Vermont Col
lege. She is the founder of
the Tramontane Poets of
Mexico City, a collective
dedicated to being a bridge between the poet
ry worlds of Mexico and North America,
which has sponsored visits to Mexico City and
readings by Reginald Gibbons, Joe Somoza,
William Merwin, Grace Schulman, Mark
Strand, Naomi Shihab Nye, William Snod
grass, and others. She has read her own work,
as well as translations, on National Public
Radio and at various organizations around
the country. Her poems have appeared in IfI
Had My Life to Live Over, Latitudes, The
Tree is Older Than You Are, California Quar
terly, The Texas Observer, the eleventh
MUSE, Grand Street, and Tameme. She has
also published many translations from Span
ish to English, some from English to Spanish,
and has edited two bilingual books. She has
served on the board of the Junior League of
Mexico City; Christ Church Episcopal, Mexi
co City; National Board Medical College of
Pennsylvania/Hahnemann University,
Philadelphia; Women’s Auxiliary American
British Cowdray Hospital, Mexico City.
For his first term:
Rohert A. George, A85
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Currently Associate Edito
rial Page Editor for the
New York Post. He is also a
columnist for National
Review Online. Previously,
George served as Director
of Coalitions for the
Republican National Com
mittee. Reporting to the
RNC Co-chairman, he
acted as party liaison to diverse business, eth
nic and interest groups. From January 1995
through May 1998, George served as Special
Assistant & Senior Writer to the Speaker of
the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1994,
he was a Legislative Assistant to former Con
gressman Michael Huffington (R-CA). From
1988 to 1993, he served as Communications
Director for the Republican National Finance
Committee. Contemporaneous with his pro
fessional full-time career, George has held
sideline occupations as a researcher, disk
jockey and free-lance writer. His work has
appeared in The Washington Post, The Wash
ington Times, National Review, New Repub
lic, Billboard, Diversity & Division, The
Weekly Standard, CRISIS, San Francisco
Chronicle, Intellectual Capital, com. Salon',
and he was a contributor to Generations
Apart: Xers vs. Boomers vs. the Elderly and
Black & Right: The Bold New Voice ofBlack
Conservatives in America. He is an Adjunct
Fellow with the Center For New Black Lead
ership, a national African-American advocacy
group exploring entrepreneurial and freemarket issues, and Third Millennium, an
organization dedicated to multi-generational
public policy issues.
George was born on the Caribbean island
country of Trinidad and Tobago and raised in
Great Britain and the United States. His
interests include reading, jogging, cultural
analysis, and a proclivity for withering puns.
as the Director of College Placement for the
school, the only college preparatory school
for Native Americans in the country. Origi
nally from Boulder, Col., Boydstun chose to
attend St. John’s instead of going to a per
forming arts school to pursue her love of act
ing. She remained active in theatre at
St. John’s, however, and since her gradua
tion has performed with Shakespeare in
Santa Fe (Measurefor Measure and A Mid
summer Night’s Dream) and as the title role
in Queen Elizabeth I at Santa Fe Stages. She
recently auditioned for several graduate act
ing programs around the country, and she
hopes to spend the next three years pursuing
an MFA.
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
505-880-^134
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
315-465-0344
ANNAPOLIS
Roberta Gable
PORTLAND
410-295-6936
360-883-9058
AUSTIN
Jennifer Chenoweth
513-483-0747
SACRAMENTO
Helen Hobart
916-453-1083
BALTIMORE
David Kidd
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
410-738-4136
619-433-4353
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
CHICAGO
Dale Mortimer
SAN FRANCISCO/
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Jon Hodapp
831-393-9496
Lorna Anderson
SANTA FE
For her first term;
847-467-3069
John Pollak
Amber Boydstln, SF99
DENVER
Santa Fe, N.M.
Elizabeth Pollard Jenny
SEATTLE
Amber Boydstun
has spent the two
years since she
graduated from
St. John’s teach
ing at the Native
American
Preparatory
School (NAPS) in
Rowe, N.M. Last
year she taught Advanced PreCalculus and
Geometry at NAPS, and this year she serves
303-530-3373
Jon Bever
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
LOS ANGELES
Elizabeth Eastman
563-436-1934
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL
Carol Freeman
613-833-3316
NEW YORK
Fielding Dupuy
313-974-3933
NORTH CAROLINA
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
505-983-^^144
306-739-1163
WASHINGTON, DC
Bill Ross
301-330-4594
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
973-3-6717608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�{Connections}
How Can Alumni
Stay Connected
TO THE College?
Let us count the ways.
For alumni from lacrosse-loving days of the
r93os to the most recent of the 1990s,
St. John’s occupies a special place in their
consciousness. There are many ways alumni
can be involved in the life of the college, or
stay involved with the college from afar.
Indeed, the proliferation of new kinds of
activities has some alumni confused. Here’s
a short version of the activities of different
alumni groups.
The St. John’s College
Alumni Offices
College staff and resources devoted to
encouraging alumni connections to the col
lege. The Offices of Alumni Activities plan
and carry out Homecomings, Summer Alum
ni Programs, and Croquet Weekend; take
care of the database of alumni names and
addresses; coordinate the Alumni Register;
staff Alumni Association projects; work with
current students to foster continued relation
ships with the college; serve as touchpoints
for all alumni dealings with the college.
Contacts:
Annapolis: Roberta Gable, Director and
Dolores Strissel, Assistant. 410-626-2531.
alumni@sjca.edu
Web site: www.sjca.edu, click on “Alumni”
Santa Fe: Tahmina Shalizi, Director.
505-984-6103; tshalizi@mail.sjcsf.edu
Web site: www.sjcsf.edu, click on “Alumni”
St. John’s College
Alumni Association
Non-profit association independent of
St. John’s College; Alumni Association dues
help support Association projects-dues are
not a contribution to St. John’s College. All
alumni are automatically members of the
Alumni Association.
The Alumni Association mission is: To
provide an active place for alumni in the life
of the college; to promote the continuing
association of alumni with one another; and
to serve, preserve, and advance St. John’s
College as one community of and for liberal
education.
Usually held the last Saturday in April, the St. John’s-Navy Croquet Match draws
HUNDREDS OF ALUMNI BACK TO AnNAPOLIS. ThIS YEAr’s DATE: ApRIL 28.
The Alumni Association, through its Board
of Directors, helps plan and sponsor Homecomings and Summer Alumni Programs in
cooperation with the college offices of
Alumni Activities; helps sponsor the Alum
ni Register; awards Honorary Alumni status
and presents Alumni Association Awards of
Merit; coordinates Alumni Association
chapters in cities around the country; pub
lishes the Alumni Association News (a pages
in The College, formerly The Reporter).
Contacts:
Glenda Eoyang, SF76, President
Web site: www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Philanthropia
A subcommittee of the Development Com
mittee of the Board of Visitors and Gover
nors, comprised of alumni volunteers inter
ested in encouraging financial support of
the college by alumni. Philanthropia’s main
efforts are centered on the Alumni Annual
Fund, direct contributions to the college
which provide the campuses with operating
expenses.
Philanthropia volunteers help plan
fundraising strategies in cooperation with
the college development staff; build aware
ness of the college’s financial needs and
alumni’s responsibilities for support
through publications like the “Founders
and Foundations” calendar; encourage class
reunion organization for the purposes of
fundraising; help plan phonathons, “meet
the president” receptions, and other activi
ties in various cities.
{The College -St. John’s
College ■ Spring 2001 }
Contacts:
Leslie Jump, A84, President; Alex Fotos or Mary
Simmons in the Annapolis Advancement Office,
410-626-2507; Ginger Roherty in the Santa Fe
Advancement Office, 505-984-6109.
Web site: www.sjca.edu/advance/philan. phtml
Alumni Admissions Representatives
Alumni who volunteer to help the Admis
sions Offices with various recruiting proj
ects, such as hosting prospective student
receptions; interviewing or answering ques
tions from prospective students, parents, and
high school counselors; answering e-mail
questions from prospective students; helping
to represent the college at college fairs.
Contacts:
Annapolis: Dorcey Rose, Associate Director of
Admissions, 410-626-2527; d-rose@sjca.edu.
Web site: www.sjca.edu/admissions/representative.phtml
Santa Fe: Ana Alvernaz, Associate Director of Admis
sions, 505-984-6003; aalvernaz@mail.sjcsf.edu
Alumni Placement Office Contacts
Alumni who volunteer to help the Place
ment Offices on each campus. Placement
Office contacts provide information and
networking advice to current students look
ing into graduate programs and career fields.
Contacts:
Annapolis - Karen Krieger, Director of Place
ment, 410-626-2500; k-krieger@sjca.edu
Web site: www.sjca.edu/placement/office. phtml
Santa Fe - Margaret OdeU, Director of Place
ment, 505-984-6066
Web site: www.sjcsf.edu/placement/
�{Obituaries}
Albert Patterson Close
Class of tgsS
Retired Judge Albert Patterson
Close, Sr., an administrative judge of
the Circuit Court for Harford Coun
ty (Md.) for many years, died in
December. Judge Close served for
more than two decades on the local
bench, where he presided over some
of the highest profile criminal and
civil cases in Harford County history.
Born near Bel Air, Md., and the
youngest of seven children, he grad
uated from St. John’s in 1938 and
received a degree from the Universi
ty of Maryland School of Law. Dur
ing World War II, he served in the
Marine Corps in China, attaining
the rank of major. After the war, he
practiced law for many years in Bel
Air, served as People’s Court judge
for eight years, and was appointed to
the Circuit Court bench in 1967.
The following year he was elected
for a 15-year term. Rather than
retire in 1984, he sought a second
15-year term, which he won.
Judge Close was active in the
Republican Party, volunteered with
the Boy Scouts, and was a member of
the Susquehanna Law Club, the Jar
rettsville Lions Club, and the board
of directors of Upper Chesapeake
Health System. He is survived by his
wife, five sons, three daughters, two
sisters, and six grandchildren.
Patrick D. Davis,
Class oftgs^
Patrick D. Davis, a member of the
class of 1950, died January 32 in
Seattle. He was born in Dewey,
Okla., and grew up in Washington,
D.C., where he often worked as a
child actor. He served three years in
the Navy in World War IL After St.
John’s, he attended the University of
Maine, Orono, and Canterbury Col
lege in New Zealand. He lived, trav
eled, and worked for 13 years over
seas, mostly in England, France, and
Turkey. He was employed as a civilian
with the U.S. Air Force as an educa
tion officer and regional director of
adult eduction affiliated with the
University of Maryland. He subse
quently was a federal employee and
regional administrator in Washing
ton, D.C., and Seattle, both with the
Office of Economic Opportunity and
Health & Human Services’ Head
Start Program, working to improve
opportunities for disadvantaged chil
dren and mothers.
His love of traveling, history, for
eign affairs, theater, archeology,
politics, art, music, and great books
led many to call him a Renaissance
Man. He will be remembered for his
love and caring for people, his gen
erosity and sense of humor, and his
devotion to social justice and envi
ronmental causes. He is survived by
his wife, Verrelle “Susie” Davis and
son, Justinian A. Davis.
Beach, and Vermont College. Gifts
in Michael’s memory may be made
to The Vermont Respite House,
99 Allen Brook Lane, Williston,
VT 05495.
—Sapna Gandhi, Agi
Michael Kraemer, A93
In his short life, Michael Kraemer
touched and influenced more than
most people do in their entire lives.
He spent most of his free time volun
teering at animal shelters, tutoring
students of all ages in their school
work, and helping new immigrants
adjust to life in America. It was his
approach that made him special: he
approached every task and every per
son with love and kindness. And at
the young age of 19, Michael knew he
wanted to spend the rest of his life
serving humanity and protecting ani
mals. Michael was one of those peo
ple who truly had no enemy.
After leaving St. John’s in 1991
after his sophomore year, Michael
moved back home to Miami to five
with his family. Still a Johnnie,
Michael loved learning so he contin
ued to study on his own-learning
Spanish and Portuguese, before set
tling on holistic studies. He was
inspired after treating his own health
with alternative medicine. He began
a correspondence course at Vermont
College’s School of Holistic Studies.
After several trips to Vermont to
complete his coursework, Michael
and his sister eventually moved there.
Michael had always loved good
music and over the last several years
had acquired quite a collection of
reggae, bossanova, funk, African,
salsa, and other groovy music. One
of his gifts was making music tapes
for his friends. So it was not a sur
prise that Michael taught himself
rocar and drums and became part of
a performing samba group.
Michael was diagnosed with can
cer in early April 3000. He had a very
shm chance of treating the cancer
successfully with Western medicine.
Instead of compromising his faith in
Eastern healing arts, Michael chose
to try acupuncture and Chinese
herbs to heal. For a while, it seemed
to be working and making him
stronger. The last two months of his
life were spent in a hospice, where
he was surrounded by family and
close friends. For the first time,
Michael let himself be loved and
nurtured, instead of always being
the strong and generous one.
Michael passed away on Novem
ber 25. He will be loved and remem
bered by his friends from St. John’s,
the Annapolis Society for the Pre
vention of Cruelty to Animals, the
Jewish Community Center in Miami
{The College-
William Allen Ruhl, Jr.
Class oftg44
William A. Ruhl, Jr., a bank execu
tive in Salisbury, Md., died in
December. He was a member of the
St. John’s class of 1944 and served in
the 83nd Airborne Division during
World War IL Mr. Ruhl was the first
managing officer of First Shore Fed
eral Savings and Loan Association
when it was founded in 1953, and
was named executive vice president
in 1964, the position he held until
retirement in 1984. He served as a
member of the board of First Shore
Federal from 1969 to 1998, when he
was named director emeritus. Mr.
Ruhl was active with the Salisbury
Chamber of Commerce, the Mary
land League of Financial Institu
tions, scouting, the Salisbury
Rotary Club, St. Peter’s Episcopal
Church, and the American Field
Service exchange student program.
He is survived by his present wife, a
son and three daughters, five grand
children, a brother, and a sister.
Adolph W. Schmidt
Member ofthe Board
Adolph W. Schmidt, a longtime sup
porter of the college who served on
the Board of Visitors and Governors
since 1949, died December 17 in
Pittsburgh. He was 96.
Mr. Schmidt was active in many
spheres during his life: in the busi
ness world as a banker and financier
for various Mellon family business
es, in the city of Pittsburgh as
founder of the Pittsburgh Playhouse
and the Pittsburgh Symphony, in the
international sphere as a diplomat
who served as ambassador to Cana
da from 1969 to 1974 and also found
ed organizations dedicated to stabi
lizing the world’s population and
resources, and at St. John’s-which
he once called “the finest under
graduate liberal arts program in the
United States today, barring none.”
A native of McKeesport, Pennsyl
vania, Mr. Schmidt graduated from
Princeton and the Harvard Gradu
ate School of Business Administra
tion. He served as an intelligence
officer in the Army during World
War II, and after the war he was
active in developing political unity
among the countries that eventually
formed NATO.
Professionally, he worked with
the Mellon National Bank and its
St. John^s College - Spring 2001 }
affiliated institutions and organiza
tions beginning in 1929 until his
retirement in 1969. He was a presi
dent and trustee of the A. A. W. Mel
lon Educational and Charitable
Trust, and a trustee of the Old
Dominion Foundation.
Mr. Schmidt’s interest in St. John’s
began when he read the February
1940 article about the college in Life
magazine while on a flight from Pitts
burgh to Washington. He felt the St.
John’s curriculum represented much
that was lacking in his own educa
tion. He called the college and spoke
with Stringfellow Barr, who invited
him to come for a visit. After attend
ing a seminar and then a mathemat
ics tutorial the next day, Mr. Schmidt
began to think about taking the year
off to enroll. Back in Pittsburgh, he
showed a copy of the Life article to
Paul Mellon; about a week later, the
two discussed the college and Mr.
Mellon told Mr. Schmidt that he
should remain in Pittsburgh since
there was so much work to be done.
In fact, Mr. Mellon had decided to
enroll at St. John’s himself.
Mr. Schmidt was elected to the
St. John’s Board of Visitors and Gov
ernors in 1950; he became chair in
1954 and again in 1962. From r969 to
1974, he served as U.S. Ambassador
to Canada and did not participate on
the Board, but upon his return he
again joined. In 1980 he was made a
member emeritus.
The Adolph W. Schmidt Endowed
Thtorships were estabhshed with a
gift from Mr. Schmidt in r985. Alter
nating between the campuses, the
tutorship enables a faculty member
to take release time from teaching for
further study and the leading of a fac
ulty study group, either in the areas
of pohtics and economic and mone
tary theory, or in some other area of
importance to the program.
Mr. Schmidt was named an hon
orary alumnus of St. John’s in 1987,
and was given the Alumni Associa
tion Award of Merit in 1989.
ALSO NOTED...
Gretchen L. Berg, A75, died in
June 3000
Patrick D. Davis, A50, died in
January 3001
John D. Edinger, A34
Vincent W. McKay, A46
Ben Moskowitz, A50, died in June
2000
Col. Frederick L. Smith, Aa7, died
in November 1999
Robert Arne, SFG83, died in
November 2000
Theodore A. Buder, SF94, died in
August 2000
�{Obituaries}
In Memory of Robert Bart
Remarks delivered by Nancy Buchenauer at a
memorial servicefor Robert Bart, tutor in
Annapolisfrom ig4Q to ty~7 and in Santa Fe
from
to 2000.
Robert was my friend. And he was a great and
terrible friend. I first met him in 1979 when I
went down the hill from Los Alamos to apply
to be a tutor. He was the Dean in Santa Fe in
those days, and for me he embodied what a
dean had to be. Really, he embodied the col
lege. When I was appointed he told me that he
had serious reservations about whether any
one who lived 40 miles away could be a tutor.
My response was to form the determination
then and there that I would never miss a class
or Friday lecture, and I would never let my
students down in any way. I would show him
what I could and could not do. He had planted
in me an expectation that made me demand
more of myself than I ever had before.
That was the beginning of my education
from him in what the college was. He made
me desire to show him that I too was capable
of giving myself completely to something that
was valuable and difficult. In effect he was
asking me to be more than myself. I didn’t
know then what I later came to know from
watching what he did as well as hearing what
he said, that only in giving oneself to some
thing greater, outside oneself does one have a
chance to find out who one really is and so
really to be something.
From his love of art he taught me to see.
From childhood my mother had taken me to
museums and said, “Look, isn’t that beauti
ful?” But when Robert took me to Michelan
gelo’s statue of Moses he asked me a question.
Pointing out the curl of the upper lip, he
asked, “Is he feeling contempt?” Robert
taught me intelligent looking. He showed me
that the best paintings and statues demand a
response from our innermost selves. Just like
poets, artists use the tricks of their trade-per
spective, rounding, color, light, shape-to
express a meaning, to show us what is impor
tant about their subjects for human beings.
Painting technique is a language as much as
written words or musical notes, and one can
learn to read and understand from it the truth
of being a human being. A building in the
hands of a great architect becomes an organic
whole designed to satisfy our craving for
wholeness: our lives are elevated by it and
made more orderly and purposeful. If one
looks at Manet’s painting, “Le balcon,” one
sees the artist Berthe Morrisot looking out
Robert Bart
and down, with ferocious intensity: perhaps
above all, artists by looking are teaching us
that it requires effort to look and that no part
of the world we inhabit is just present for us
without our labor.
Nick Maistrellis, by mentioning to me what
he was thinking about saying here today,
helped me to understand that the key to what
came to be my friendship with Robert is learn
ing, that is, my learning. That was an
inevitable consequence of how Robert did
everything and of who he was. He was posi
tively unable to keep anything at a “safe” dis
tance, from which one might think or talk
about it as if one were not involved. To every
thing and everyone he had an immediate, vis
ceral response. Never for him was the life of
the mind divorced from our personal relation
ships to one another, and the one always
importantly informed the other.
He taught me that taste is absolute and that
people of integrity have to judge. His judg
ments often made me terribly uncomfortable,
but I also learned from them that to stay alive
and awake and questioning, to encounter peo
ple and ideas genuinely, one has to make judg
ments. Part of why Robert was such a holy ter
ror to many students and colleagues was
because in his presence everything one said
and did was constantly and relentlessly judged.
There could be no off-hand, unthinking
remarks, because he was thinking all the time,
and he was unscrupulously honest about what
he thought. At times he would take enormous
offense at a chance remark, unable himself to
believe that the words were not intended,
because for him everything was intentional.
But he suffered also from staircase self-hon
esty. He would go through paroxysms of
remorse over what he had said to people. He
also had the peculiar quality of frequently
{The College -Sr. John’s
College ■ Spring 2001 }
43
doing more justice to people behind their
backs than he could do to their faces. It was
not uncommon in Instruction Committee
meetings for him to speak in praise of people
whom he only bristled at face to face, and at
such times nothing of what one might call per
sonal feeling clouded his ability to evaluate.
This intellectual generosity was accompa
nied by a truly remarkable generosity in other
ways. AU his life he lived by a standard of
extreme ascetic economy while giving prodi
gious amounts of money to the college and to
his friends. In the last years of his life he
became friends with a young woman he hoped
would help him to remain in his home a little
longer, but when he learned of her desire to go
to graduate school in Washington, he made up
the difference between her scholarship and
what she needed to be able to attend. When he
had first come home from the hospital after his
second heart attack, I was spending seminar
nights staying in his house, and I woke up one
morning finding him sweeping the snow off
my car with a broom, hardly able to walk. For
him it was easy to give to and to spend on oth
ers and next to impossible to spend on himself.
He was terribly lonely and often agonized
by a sense that he had driven away some of the
finest friends he had had. He told me once on
one of the rare occasions that he spoke of his
past and his childhood that in school he had
never had a friend. I came to see how coming
to the college meant so much to him personal
ly as well as intellectually. At the college he
made the first real friendships of his life. He
needed others around him constantly, and his
life was best for him when he could spend two
meals a day in conversations with one other of
those he cared about. Once someone became
his friend they were a part of him forever,
even though there were few with whom this
did not take the form of a constant struggle.
Bill O’Grady once said of St. Paul that just
exactly a man who found it hard to love would
have to struggle to come to know (and to say)
what love is. Those words could just as well
have been said about Robert, for because love,
the most intense and close relationship of one
human being to another, was so hard for him,
he devoted his life to trying to see it, to learn it,
to say it, to do it, and to give it to others. Such
was Robert. I think he was a great man. 4"
The college has established the Robert Bart
Endowment Fund, to be usedforfinancial aid
for students. Contributions can be sent
c/o Advancement Office, St. John's College,
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, NM
87501-4599
�{St. John’s Forever}
he King William Players
“girl trouble” as a result of his effort. Al
staged the American pre
Sugg (A54) played the Skeleton, a mysteri
miere of Thomas Cranmer of
ous spirit figure who offered counsel to the
Canterbury, a verse drama
embattled Cranmer. Jo Thoms, wife of
about Henry VIII’s archbish
tutor Bert Thoms, played Anne Boleyn
op who suffered martyrdom
(third from left in the photo) and also
as a result of his stance on the kingdesigned
’s
the set and the costumes, which
divorce from Catherine of Aragon.included
Two
a medallion necklace for the king
productions took place-February 9 and 10,
that was fashioned from tin can lids.
1951-in the Great Hall. A group of students
Richard Edelman (A51) produced and
had read and discussed Charles Williams’
directed. In his quest for authenticity,
difficult, disturbing work the previous
Edelman tried to rent furniture appropri
spring and vowed to put on the play. Talk
ate to the period but was unable to find it.
about a production: this one took nine
When
he spotted some pieces that looked
months of preparation and involved a hun
like
they
’d work in the lobby of Lowe’s
dred students and townspeople.
Valencia Theater in Baltimore, he wrote
Tutor Hugh McGrath played Cranmer;
the owners, who allowed the KWP to bor
his dramatic bearing and resonant English
row the furniture. Always avant garde, the
accent must have been perfect for the part.
King William Players employed unusual
Paul Rickolt (A52) was Henry VIII (second
three-leveled staging and at times they
from the left in the photo). According to
played their roles standing-or racingnews accounts from the Annapolis paper.
among members of the audience. And, in
The Evening Capital, Mr. Rickolt spent
the St. John’s spirit of trying to get to the
months growing a beard so that his looks
would be authentic. 1951 was not a big year
root of every issue, tutor Winfree Smith
for the popularity of facial hair, and he
gave a lecture before the play on the
reported being stared at and experiencing
British Reformation period.
T
{The College -
St. John’s College . Spring 2001 }
From the college archives
COMES THIS 1951 photo OF AN
elaborate King William
Players production.
V
► ■'
�{Alumni Events Calendar}
Croquet Match St. John'’s vs. U.S. Naval Academy
Saturday
atj, 1 p.m.,
(Rain date; April 29)
CLASS OF
Summer Alumni Program, Week 1
Section I - The Art ofLiving Well
Readings from Montaigne’s Essays and
Chuang-Tzu
Led by Mark Rollins and Krishnan
Venkatesh
If to philosophize is to learn how to die, by”
what can we learn how to live? These semi
nars will constitute an imagined conversa
tion between one of the greatest Taoist
sages and the i6th century Frenchman who
first wrote the personal essay. Although the
cultural roots of these two men are quite dif
ferent, both share a deep suspicion of
human claims to know, and both draw from
huge treasuries of story and anecdote in
their nimble interrogations of life. They
engage many of the same issues-among
others: dying, illness, disability, ambition,
thought itself, and even the value of doing
nothing-and introduce us to some surpris
ing teachers. Lord Wen-Hui said, “That’s
good indeed! Ting the cook has shown me
how to find the Way to nurture life.”
Section II- Two Dialogues With God
Readings from The Bhagavadgita and
The Book of Job
Led by Phil LeCuyer and Michael Wolfe
Participants will explore two conversations
with God, one from the Hebrew scriptures
and the other from an Indian epic. Morning
seminars will revolve around Job’s
encounter with the Lord in the Book of Job.
Afternoon seminars will be devoted to Arju
na’s exchange with Krishna in The Bha
gavadgita.
7
A
,
Informal mini-reunions happen at the
Croquet Match. Last year, the class of
’89 MET on the lawn; they brought new
<*•
All-Alumni Art Show
in Santa Fe
BABIES, SPOUSES, FRIENDS, AND LOTS OF
FOOD AND WINE.
lecoming aooi - Annapolis
o' tiuii lecoming aoor
■ ® ' it'
- Santa Fe
Frid!
Reunion classes: 71, 76, 81, 86, 91, and 96
September 30
Reunion Classes: 36, 41, 51, 56, 61, 66, 71,
76, 81, 86, 91, and 96
JT
Summer Alumni Program, Week
^unudy) JLLiy xo j?ixuHy, j
fflta Fe
Mysteries and the Law:
The Nature ofEvidence
Led by Eva Brann, Grant Franks,
and Barbara Lauer
Who done it? How do you know who done
it? How does the polity justly deal with he or
she who done it?
This week of mixed media and conversa
tion addresses questions of crime, investiga
tion, and punishment. Through the eyes of
modern filmmakers and both contemporary
and ancient playwrights and authors, we
will examine the influences of perception
and judgment in relation to mysteries. Texts
include Billy Budd, Eumenides, Twelve
Angry Men, and Pirandello’s So It Is (IfYou
Think So).
{The College
- St John's College • Spring 2001 }
For information on events,
contact the Offices of Alumni Activities:
Tahmina Shalizi,
Director of Alumni and Parent Activities
Santa Fe - 505-984-6103;
tshalizi@mail.sjcsf.edu
Roberta Gable,
Director of Alumni Activities
Annapolis - 410-626-2531;
alumni@sjca.edu
�STJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS > SANTA PE
Published by the
Public Relations Office
Box 2800
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>The College </em>(2001-2017)
Description
An account of the resource
The St. John's College Communications Office published <em>The College </em>magazine for alumni. It began publication in 2001, continuing the <em>St. John's Reporter</em>, and ceased with the Fall 2017 issue.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=56">Items in The College (2001-2017) Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
Creator
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St. John's College
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Annapolis, Md.
Santa Fe, NM
Contributor
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St. John's College Greenfield Library
Language
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English
Identifier
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thecollege2001
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
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paper
Page numeration
Number of pages in the original item.
44
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The College, Spring 2001
Description
An account of the resource
Volume 27, Issue 2 of The College Magazine. Published in Spring 2001. Misnumbered as issue 3.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
St. John's College
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
St. John's College
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Annapolis, MD
Santa Fe, NM
Date
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2001
Rights
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St. John's College owns the rights to this publication.
Type
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text
Format
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pdf
Contributor
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Goyette, Barbara (editor)
Borden, Sus3an (assistant editor)
Behrens, Jennifer (graphic designer)
Mulry, Laura J. (Santa Fe editor)
Johnson, David
Hanlon, Erin
Wolff, Peter
Balkcom, John
Eoyang, Glenda H.
Language
A language of the resource
English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
The College Vol. 27, Issue 3 Spring 2001
The College
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